Lessons from legality verification by timber associations for the Japanese
domestic market and its potential to become an international standard
Takashi Fujiwara, Managing Director
Japan Federation of Wood Industry Associations
1Introduction
The Japanese Forest Agency introduced a Guideline describing a method to ensure
timber legality from the point of harvest through the supply chain. The methodauthorizes companies that are accredited by associations to provide legality
verification (a kind of environmental quality information) to timber demanders andconsumers. After 6 years implementation of the Guideline, this method has beenserving not only for the Green Purchase Act but also other relevant subsidy services
including that of promoting Long-Life Quality Housing by Ministiry of Land,Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. I would like to introduce the significance of
this well established system in the international context.

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The experience of legality verification by companies authorized by associations(1) Overview of Japanese timber industry organization
Japan has tens of thousands of timber companies including loggers, saw millers,
distributers and manufacturers. Nearly twenty thousands of them are organizedin industry-groupe organizations like regional cooperatives, prefectural-scaleassociations and nation-wide associations per type of businesses.
(2) Process of authorization by associations
Timber related associations that want to authorize their member companies
according to the Forestry Agency’s Guideline shall establish the self-disciplinary
code of conduct (anti illegal logging, support to governmental policies and promote
the effort actively etc), publish the developed authorization procedure andpromote it to their own member companies. The member companies that want to
be authorized assign the responsible person and develop the policy on
management

systemofproductseparation

fromnon-verifiedproducts,

documented management procedures etc following to the standard to submit totheir authorizing association. Once authorized, the company can issue theverification for their products as long as they are made up of only verified material.
The chain of verifications according to the business chain enables the buyers to15

ensure the legality of timber.
At present, 142 associations have been registered and 8,600 companies areauthorized.

(Formoreinformationin

Englishpleasegothislink

http://www.goho-wood.jp/world/. Also please view our short movie (in English andChinese available) from the link)(3) Legality information from the point of origin
For domestic timber, the point of origin of legality is the harvest permission by thePrefectural Governor (if from conservation forest) or “notifications of harvest andsilviculture” submitted to the mayor (if from privately owned forest).
In the case of imported timber, 1) verification by authorized associations, 2) forest
certification schemes or 3) export permissions which are linked to the evidence ofharvest origin and accredited by specific countries (i.e. Indonesian BRIKendorsement (to be reformed to TLAS system) and Malaysian endorsed exportpermission) are eligible. Goho Secretariat welcomes the information related to theverification and willing to make open discussion and make the information
publicly available. When question arises, we will open for further discussion.
3The significance of having a chain of authorized companies(1) The importance of information on the environmental quality of timber
Timber is recognized and promoted as an alternative of fossil resources; arenewable resource, helping to fix carbon. However, illegally logged timber canhave the opposite effect.

It is important to provide environmental quality

information of timber products including burden and contribution on theenvironment of the production process of the products no matter where it washarvested and distributed. For example, the exporter of FLEGT-licensed timber toEU market would like to have identification system in EU market of theirproducts for the consumers in EU. . Therefore, we need an efficient system of
distributing information to compete materials sourced from underground.
(2) Timber trade has complicated supply chains
Petroleum-based materials and metals which compete against timbers are notdifficult to trace especially in the production process with only limited players
involved. In contrast, timber usually goes through many hands and comes fromvarious sources and has countless harvest origins and production stages and paths,
the business network is more diverse from upstream to downstream. It is
impossible to keep monitored the whole timber market through whole supply
chain by a third party. It is important to utilize the registered association’s16

wide-range existing network for distributing information.
(3) Diversity of origin of environmental quality information of timber
Apart from how to manage the legality information, distributing environmental
quality information is important as long as it clarifies the any kind of source ofinformation.
For example, The Goho-wood model verification chain system is now also requiredin the verification of wooden chip sourced from thinning operation, responding toGreen Purchase Act (“Guideline for verifying wooden chip sourced from thinning
operation” Forest Agency, July 2009) and the identification of “unused wooden
biomass produced from forest harvesting and thinning” to address act on special
measures for procurement of renewable energy by electric power suppliers(“Guideline for verifying wooden biomass used for power generation” June 2012).
(4) Global potential of Goho-wood
Consumers will become demanding various information about environmental
burdens or contributions of production process of timber. Industry sectors arerequested to cooperate each others for utilization of business network for themission. The Goho-wood may have such flexible potential in Japan and also
possible in global context as the minimum systemic infrastructure to be adopted
for any type of scheme.
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Credibility of authorized associations system
Our challenge is ensuring the credibility. As the Goho-wood doesn’t include third
party monitoring, the solution must be the open information.
When even only one company in the supply chain failed to follow the standard, it
affects on whole credibility. It is vital to ensure opening information of verification
issuance process by individual companies and transparency of legality evidences.
At present, I identified the challenges Japan needs to address as 1) moretransparent public information by associations, 2) establishment of common
monitoring procedures.

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