SGS VALIDATION OF LEGAL TIMBER PROGRAMME IN THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST,KHABAROVSK REGION
Andrey Zakharenkov
SGS Forest Monitoring Services, Russia

Validation of Legal Timber Programme (VLTP) has been designed for the Government of the Russian Far-East
Khabarovsk Region which has in its search for ways to improve the control of its vital forest sector, expressed interest inadopting ‘legal timber verification’ approaches developed by SGS. VLTP is an instrument of ‘good governance’ supportingforest law enforcement. Verification systems employ efficient monitoring of production and trade activities and meaningful
verification of compliance with agreed ‘legality’ principles, throughout the supply chain. These ‘legality’ principles andverification scheme are endorsed by the regional Government and implemented under their Government mandate.

BACKGROUND
Related area and illegal logging problems
The Khabarovsk region is the 3rd largest timber
producing region in Russia and a major producing andexporting area in the international timber trade. It boasts
over 73 million hectares of forests. The softwood
resource (mainly larch and fir) comprises 85% of theregion’s production, and temperate hardwood theremainder (15%). Over 200 logging and timber
processing companies (including some international)
have concessions (leased forest resources). Accordingly,
improved control of forest sector activities has been
identified as a priority by the regional Government andby the forest and timber industry of the Khabarovsk
region.
While the basis for such assessment could often bechallenged, recent reports from environmental NGOs
have claimed that the level of illegal logging currently
taking place in the region varies from significant to veryhigh. Both the Government and the industry are looking
to improve and demonstrate legal compliance, build abetter image and facilitate the trade with high-value
export markets, via the verification of ‘legal timber’.
This is seen as a reliable and internationally credible
instrument that could be used to monitor and verify thattimber has been harvested, produced, and sold legally.
GENERAL OVERVIEW OF VERIFICATION

trade facilitation, aid monitoring and sustainable use ofnatural resources. The latter is currently represented
by a Forestry Monitoring Programme. VLTP in theRussian Far East is the part of SGS global Forestry
Monitoring Programme.
Outline of issuing process
SGS VLTP verifies legality and some aspects ofsustainability related to usage of forest resources(authorized volumes and quotas), protected areas(observance of protected regime), impacts of logging
activity to environment etc.
Verification of legality in the framework of VLTP isconducted on a step-wise approach. In the first stage
Legal Origin is verified. This includes checks of the,legitimacy of the forest source and legal ownership offorest products throughout the whole production andsupply chain. At the second stage Legal Compliance isverified. This means that the producer or owner of forest
products complies with federal and regional laws andregulations as specified by this VLTP Standard, has asystem of registration and control over the transport offorest products in place, and follows other necessary
management procedures. Products that are successfully
checked for legal origin and legal compliance areconsidered as fully verified legal forest products.
SCHEME TO CHECK FOR LEGALITY AT THE TIME
OF LOGGING

Party responsible for issuing verification

Definition of legality

The ‘Validation of Legal Timber Programme (VLTP)
was developed and adopted by Société Générale deSurveillance (SGS) of Geneva, Switzerland. SGS is theworld’s largest verification, testing and certificationcompany. With its headquarters in Geneva and 48,000
staff world-wide, it operates a network of 1,180 offices
and 321 laboratories in 145 countries. In Russia, SGS
employs 1,700 people (staff and regular contractors) ina central office in Moscow, 5 regional branches and 42offices. The Trade Assurance Services Division of SGS
brings together the services to governments andinternational institutions aimed at revenue protection,No worldwide standard and mechanism exist as yet
to prescribe what ‘legal timber’ is and how it should beverified. The question of whether or not timber has beenlegally harvested and sourced touches on somepotentially complex issues. The concept of legality is notuniversal (what is legal in one country may be illegal inanother), and laws and regulations are sometimes weak,complex and even inconsistent or contradictory between
the different levels. Indeed the scope of all relevant laws
and regulations is far too wide for these to be equally
covered by the VLTP.
The generic principles of ‘Timber Legality”

developed by SGS were adapted by regional experts
and are represented in this VLTP Standard. They consistof minimum requirements which:− contain auditable “legality” criteria;− focus on essential (priority) criteria;− are acceptable to a vast majority of Russian andinternational stakeholders;− are based on or supported by relevant federal
and regional laws and regulations; and− reflect international agreements ratified by theRussian Federation.
The VLTP Standard used by SGS for theKhabarovsk Region specifies requirements for the legal
origin of forest products and legality of production,transport, processing and distribution activities. It also
includes requirements related to traceability and chain ofcustody assurance systems. The Standard contains 9
principles (shown below), 26 criteria and 68 indicators oftimber legality:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Authorization of the company to exercise an
economic activity
Access to land and forest resources, anddocumentation of rights for use
Classification of forest fund and terms oftenancy
Systems of company's management andmonitoring of forest products transportation(quality system)
Legitimacy of forest management andharvesting plans, projects and technicaldocumentation
Legitimacy of production activity in forest fund
Chain of custody (CoC)
Authorized volumes and quotas
Payments and social liabilities

The first 4 principles relate to the legal origin of theforest products. The next 5 relate to legal compliance by
the producing company.
The definition of legality that these principles form
can be modified over time, its scope can be broadenedor it can, for example, incorporate further social andenvironmental requirements as agreed by stakeholders.
Relevant laws
Federal and regional Forestry and Environment
legislative acts that relates to the VLTP Standard consistof more than 30 documents. A sample is listed bellow.
Forest code of Russian Federation; Federal law“Environmental protection”; Water code of RussianFederation; Federal law “Animal world”; Land code ofRussian Federation; Federal law “Environmentalexpertise”; Federal law “Territories of traditional natureuse of indigenous people”; President’s decree of RF“Highly protected nature territories of RF”; Directions onallotment and inventory of cutting areas in the forests ofRF; Procedure of forest division on tax categories;
Minimum tariff of fares for standing timber; Ratification ofprinciples of leasing forest locations in RF; Procedure ofleasing forest areas; The rules for timber harvest in Far
Eastern forests; Practical manual of organization andcarrying out timber harvesting in the coniferous andbroadleaf deciduous Far Eastern forests; Regulations oforganization and carrying out timber harvesting on thesteep slopes of the Sikhote-Alin forests; Ratification ofprinciples for water protected zones river sites and theirshoreline shelterbelts.
As a result of key changes in Forestry legislation
since 1 January, 2007 after the introduction of a newForest Code will require significant changes in theconsummation most of legislative acts. VLTP Standard
will be modified to accommodate these changes throughconsultation with technical experts and other key
stakeholders.
Details of presumed illegal activities
Perceived illegal activities taking place in the
Russian Far East usually include:: logging withoutpermits; harvesting in excess of legal quotas and/or outsideof legal boundaries; cutting of protected species; woodlogged with in violation of approved cutting technology;
industrial wood logged over the fixed quota for thinnings;
evasion of royalties, taxes and other forest charges.
Procedures for retaining and verifying the evidence
At the operational level, verification of timber
legality is achieved through:− verification/ auditing including documentary checks andfield inspections;− coordination with authorities for data collection and fieldverifications;− continuous and systematic data management;− computerised log/ timber tracking (optional);− remote sensing (satellite imagery, aerial photography) incoordination with authorities.
All verification procedures are managed andexecuted by a third party auditor (SGS VLTP Agency)
under SGS General Conditions of Services that ensure
reliability and international creditability.
FUTURE TASK AND PERSPECTIVES
Future perspectives
Under the new decree issued by Russian Federal
Government at the end of December 2005 and the newForest Code introduced on 1 of January 2007, Regional
Governments are responsible for all forest management
functions. This increases the potential for verification oflegality to be implemented in other regions as a
replication of the VLTP model under similar regional
schemes or, to expand under the SGS ‘Timber Legality
and Traceability Verification’ (TLTV) service to individualcompanies.