Other indicators for legal timber trade of Papua New Guinea

Bans & quota

The following species are banned from export in log form under the PNG Government’s ‘International Trade (Fauna and Flora) Act 1979’ and Amendments:

• Kauri Pine (Agathis spp.)
• Hoop Pine (Araucaria cunninghamii)
• Klinkii Pine (Araucaria hunsteinii)
• Celery-Top Pine (Phyllocladus hypophyllus)
• Cordia (Cordia dichotoma)
• Dacrydium (Dacrydium nidulum)
• Ebony (Diospyros ferrea)
• Kerosene wood (Cordia subcordata)
• Libocedrus (Libocedrus pauanus)
• Podocarp (Podocarpus spp.)
• Brown Podocarp (Decussocarpus wallichianus)
• Highland Podocarp (Dacrycarpus imbricatus)
• Rosewood (Pterocarpus indicus)
• Balsa (Ochroma lagopus)
• Blackbean (Castanospermum australe)

CITES and protected species

No tree species growing in PNG are listed on CITES Appendix II.

National action on timber legality

PNG has a system for monitoring round log exports (LEMS) that is implemented by Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS) as set out in ‘Timber harvesting activities’ above. As provided in the Procedures for Exporting Logs (April 2016), SGS ensures that, at the time of export, all logs exported have a legal Export Permit and Licence, and are properly declared, that the cargoes are correctly valued (based on PNGFA approved prices and volumes as per the SGS Inspection Report), and that export taxes have been paid. The SGS system only enables tracing of logs back to logging set-ups, not to individual stumps. In addition, the system does not involve any checks on the legality of licence issuance, harvesting practices or most other forest-related regulations.

PNG has not expressed interest and is currently not negotiating a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the EU under the EU Action Plan for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT).

In June 2020, the National Executive Council (NEC) directed the National Institute for Standards & Industrial Technology (NISIT) to formulate a submission to the Minister for Commerce & Industry to endorse and gazette the PNG Timber Legality Standard. The NEC noted the development process, which involved hands-on drafting and field-testing activities with forestry stakeholders over a number of years, with financial support from the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) and the Responsible Asia Forestry & Trade Program (RAFT 3).