EU and Vietnam sign agreement on better enforcement of forest law

The agreement establishes a Timber Legality Assurance system to monitor the timber supply chain and a FLEGT licensing scheme to ensure that only legally obtained timber can be exported to the EU market.

The agreement also establishes a mechanism for dialogue and cooperation between the EU and Vietnam on the FLEGT licensing scheme. The VPA was signed by Sebastian Kurz, federal chancellor of the Republic of Austria, and Federica Mogherini, EU high representative for foreign affairs and security and Vietnamese Minister for Agricultural and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong.