Other indicators for legal timber trade of Viet Nam

Bans & quota

A general logging ban is currently in place for all natural, protected and special purpose forests. This ban is not applicable for non-commercial harvesting activities by households, individuals and rural communities.

An export ban is also in place covering logs and sawn wood from domestic natural forests (not plantations).

CITES and protected species

Some tree species from Viet Nam are listed on the CITES Appendix I and II.

Organizations and individuals who are involved in processing and trading in these species for commercial purposes must comply with the following regulations (Decree No. 06/2019/ND-CP).

Appendix 1A includes endangered wildlife species, banned from export, import, re-export, entry from the sea and transit of specimens from nature for commercial purposes (no common names are available for these species in English in the ‘Nomenclature Générale des Bois Tropicaux’, ATIBT 2016):

• Vân sam fan si pang – Fansipan fir (Abies delavayi subsp. Fansipanensis),
• Sa mộc dầu - San-Mu (Cunninghamia konishii),
• Hoàng đàn hữu liên - (Cupressus tonkinensis),
• Thông nước – Chinese Swamp Cypress (Glyptostrobus pensilis)
• Du sam đá vôi - (Keteleeria davidiana),
• Bách đài loan – Taiwania (Taiwania cryptomerioides), and
• Bách vàng – Vietnamese golden cypress (Xanthocyparis vietnamensis).

Appendix 2B contains wildlife species that are not currently threatened with extinction but are likely to become extinct if export, import, re-export, entry from the sea and transit of specimens of these species from nature for commercial purposes which is not controlled:

• Bách xanh núi đá - (Calocedrus rupestris),
• Bách xanh – Chinese Incense-cedar (Calocedrus macrolepis),
• Pơ mu – Fujian Cypress (Fokienia hodginsii);
• Thông đỏ lá ngắn – Chinese yew (Taxus chinensis),
• Thông đỏ lá dài – Himalayan yew (Taxus wallichiana),
• Đỉnh tùng (Phỉ ba mũi) – Mann’s Yew Plum (Cephalotaxus mannii),
• Thông tre lá ngắn – Tung (Podocarpus pilgeri),
• Thông xuân nha - (Pinus cernua),
• Thông Đà Lạt – Dalat Pine (Pinus dalatensis),
• Thông lá dẹt – Krempf’s Pine (Pinus krempfii),
• Thông Pà cò (Pinus kwangtungensis),
• Thông hai lá quá nhỏ - (Pinus kwangshanensis),
• Thiết sam giả lá ngắn - (Pseudotsuga brevifolia),
• Mun sọc – (Diospyros salletii),
• Mun – Mun (Diospyros mun);
• Đinh - (Fernandoa spp.)
• Gõ đỏ (Cà te) – Go Do/ Go To Té/ Makamong (Afzelia xylocarpa),
• Gụ mật (Gõ mật) - Sepetir (Sindora siamensis),
• Gụ lau - (Sindora tonkinensis),
• Cẩm lai Bà Rịa – Burmese Rosewood/ Tamalan (Dalbergia oliveri),
• Giáng hương quả to – Burma Padauk (Pterocarpus macrocarpus),
• Lim xanh – Lim (Erythrophloeum fordii),
• Trắc – Thailand Rosewood (Dalbergia cochinchinensis),
• Trắc dây - (Dalbergia rimosa),
• Sưa - (Dalbergia tonkinensis),
• Gù hương (Quế balansa) - (Cinnamomum balansae),
• Re xanh phấn - Ré (Cinnamomum glaucescens),
• Vù hương (Xá xị, Re hương) - Selasian wood (Cinnamomum parthenoxylon) and
• Nghiến - Nghien (Excentrodendron tonkinense).

National action on timber legality

Viet Nam and the EU initiated negotiations towards a FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) in November 2010 and, on 11 May 2017, formally concluded their negotiations by initialling the document. On 19 October 2018, Vietnam and the EU signed the VPA, which was to be effective as of 01 June 2019. The VPA has 9 annexes (EFI, 2015):

1. Product Coverage
2. Vietnam timber legality definition
3. Conditions governing the release for free circulation in the Union of timber products exported from Vietnam and covered by a FLEGT license
4. FLEGT licensing scheme
5. Vietnam timber legality assurance system (VNTLAS). The TLAS details technical information on the timber legality verification mechanisms and the timber supply chain controls
6. Terms of reference for the independent evaluation
7. Criteria for assessment of the operational readiness of the Vietnam timber legality assurance system
8. Public disclosure of information
9. Functions of the joint implementation committee

Vietnam is now in the VPA implementation phase and expects to issue FLEGT licenses in 2021 (VNFOREST 2020).