Other indicators for legal timber trade of the Republic of the Congo

Bans & quota

Law 33-2020 of the Forestry Code makes the processing of logs compulsory, with the exception of a list of heavy and hardwood species whose processing requires a specific technology (Article 97).
Moreover, a decision has been taken by CEMAC to ban the export of logs by 2022, which in principle will also exclude so-called heavy and hardwood species if Congo endorses this CEMAC decision.

CITES and protected species

Some tree species are listed in Appendix II of the CITES and are harvested by certain companies in Congo's northern and southern forest massifs:

• Afromosia (Pericopsiselata). Congo had a log and sawn timber quota for this species in 2017 (6,309 m³). The quota is redefined each year
• Bubinga or Kevazingo (Guibourtiademeusei) a quota of 2,954 m³ for logs and 9,165 m³ for sawn timber in 2019.

African cherry tree (Prunus africana). The CITES quota applies to all tree parts and derivatives except: seeds, spores and pollen; seedling or tissue cultures obtained in vitro, in solid or liquid environments, transported in sterile containers. 

National action on timber legality

Congo and the EU entered into negotiations for a FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement in June 2008. The agreement was signed in May 2010 and ratified in February 2013.

The Republic of Congo VPA/FLEGT has enhanced the involvement and participation of other public administrations (beyond the MEF alone), of civil society and of the private sector in terms of the development and validation of forest policies and regulations, procedures for verifying the legality of timber, and also in monitoring the application of regulations through independent observation by a Congolese civil society organisation. The VPA has also promoted improved transparency with the progressive publication of the information set out in Appendix X of the Agreement, through the implementation of a communication plan and easy access to information from the MEF's departments. The main elements of the LVS are either in place or at a very advanced stage of development. Ongoing policy and legal reforms will provide a solid legal basis for the implementation of the FLEGT authorisation scheme.

The Republic of Congo's government has developed its Computerised Legality Verification System (SIVL - Système Informatique de Vérification de la Légalité) which is currently being deployed. The benefit of this tool is that it enables forest sector stakeholders to effectively and efficiently manage data relating to the verification of legality and traceability aimed at the acquisition, production and sale of legal and traceable timber.

• Since the end of December 2016, the Republic of Congo's government has developed software that takes into account all aspects of the LVS;
• Since 3 November 2017, the SIVL is hosted at the Ministry of Finance's datacentre in Brazzaville.
• Non-regression tests and source code audits have been successfully completed.
• To date, the SIVL is currently being deployed.

The first modules to be deployed will be the Fiscal and Special Permits (PS - PermisSpéciaux) ones.