Will timber import law impact paper users?

The Australian government is in the process of considering legislation on banning the importation of wood products from illegal sources. The bill has been through the second reading process. As the Greens Party gains controlling power of the Senate about midway through the year, the illegal timber legislation is very likely to be passed. While it will cover a wide range of industries such as construction, panelling and furniture, it is also likely it could be applied to pulp and paper products. The legislation raises interesting issues for the printing sector.

There are two internationally recognised forestry certification systems: FSC and PEFC. There are also many other national schemes that do not currently fall under either of these two certification bodies. The Australian government will likely have to develop a policy on recognising the legality of other nations’ certification schemes. Or if they only accept one or both of the international umbrella certifications, then they are asking other sovereign governments to change their own policy on forestry – effectively suggesting a lack of trust in some other governments. In our region, it will mean the Australian government would need to formally recognise the LEI certification from Indonesia as being a legitimate and robust scheme. If not, it could put significant pressure on the trade relationship between the two countries if it is implied the Indonesian certification is not good enough.

The LEI scheme has been in place for more than 15 years and is globally accepted as being robust for forestry management and chain of custody. If any wood, pulp and paper products from Indonesia with the LEI certification is not accepted without question in regards to its legality, then why not?

At the moment there are satisfactory test methods for solid wood products such as construction, panelling and furniture. These products can be DNA tested easily. The pulping processes in papermaking effectively destroys the DNA in the fibre so there is no absolute test method for determining illegality. Does this mean any allegation is speculative? If absolute proof is not possible, there is going to be interesting byplay happening in this area. There is a TAPPI test T403, which can be used in limited scope to test for general type fibre, but accuracy is not absolute. Will the Aust­ralian government risk a legal pulp or paper trade without an absolute test method?

Asian countries are not the only nations that have question marks in regard to illegal wood. In a recent BBC documentary, journalist Bruce Parry interviewed a Russian logger. The logger said that as much as a quarter of Russian trees are being cut down illegally, and the majority of the buyers of these trees are from European paper mills. A significant amount of paper supplied to Australia comes from Europe and, therefore, we should be just as concerned over the legitimacy of that supply as well as from our own local region. The legislation could impose significant penalties for the importation of any illegal timber product, possibly including pulp and paper. No one should blindly assume that only Asian products will be under question in the illegal wood legislation.

Phillip Lawrence spent many years working in the paper sector and is now a consultant and public speaker who specialises in print and the environment. He does consultancy work for paper companies, including Asia Paper & Paper.

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