On June 25^th, 2010, the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) cooperated with Miller & Chevalier Chartered to hold a seminar on “Vietnamese wood exports to European Union, the United State: Regulations and Implementation” in Ho Chi Minh city. More than 80 participants from business associations, enterprises, press agents and related agencies attended the seminar.

This event belongs to VCCI’s Program “Enterprises and International Trade Policies” sponsored by European Union in the framework of Project EU – Viet Nam MUTRAP III.

In the opening speech, Mr. Tran Ngoc Liem, Deputy Director of VCCI at Ho Chi Minh city, gave an overview of Viet Nam’s wood exports in recent times, emphasized the importance of the two major export markets - EU and U.S. Mr. Liem also warned enterprises of new regulations on wood imports to these countries and the necessity of compliance to mitigate risks.

According to Mr. Nguyen Ton Quyen, General Secretary of Viet Nam Timber and Forest Product Association, in the coming time, Vietnamese enterprises would have to cope with many difficulties relating to rules of origin and compliance requirements for wood exporting to the EU and the US. While the EU has issued the Drafted FLEGT Action Plan (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) which will come into force in January 2012, the U.S Lacey Act - a section of the Farm Bill - was adopted and effective in 2008 and continue to be clarified the implementation.

Main speakers of the Seminar, Mr. Jay Eizenstat and Mr. John Magus from Miller & Chevalier Chartered made a presentation to introduce basic contents of the Amended Lacey Act of the U.S. The Lacey Act was designed to combat trade in illegally-sourced wildlife, fish and some plants, including trees/timber. The 2008 Amendments expanded the Act’s application to a wider range of plants and wood products such as paper, flooring, wooden furniture, etc.

The two lawyers also gave specific examples to instruct enterprises how to fill in the declaration form as required by the Lacey Act. Accordingly, importers of all covered products are required to submit a declaration form that provides: i) the accurate scientific name of the plant, ii) the value of the importation, iii) quantity of the plant – wood included in the product, iv) name of the country where the plant was harvested.

Also, according these lawyers, there are two elements of a Lacey Act violation for international shipments: i) illegally-sourced plant; ii) trade of the illegally-sourced plant in U.S. inter-state or foreign commerce. Penalties for violations are: forfeiture of goods, criminal fine and even imprisonment for up to 5 years.

Due to these strict regulations, the lawyers gave some compliance instructions for Vietnamese manufacturers and exporters: i) search for information on scientific name, genus, species and the country of origin of the wood (if purchased from suppliers); ii) use proper recordkeeping for inventory tracking and management; iii) provide importer with list of all possible genus/species and country of origin for all products.

Speakers concluded that in comparison with the EU FLEGT Action, the US Lacey Act is much more complicated and difficult to comply with. Therefore, Vietnamese timber exporters need to understand thoroughly this Act before exporting to the US.

The final part of the seminar was Q&A session with many questions raised by participants and these questions were answered properly by speakers. After the seminar, enterprises were equipped with useful knowledge and updated information on the EU and US wood import requirements so that they have a proper strategy when exporting wood products to these countries.