MALAYSIA: MTCC Timber Certification in Operation
Copyright 2001 BERNAMA (Malaysian National News Agency)
December 20, 2001, Thursday
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20, 2001 - The Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) today announced that the national timber certification scheme has started its operation and all timber product manufacturers and exporters as well as forest management units (FMU) can now submit their applications to the council under the voluntary MTCC certification scheme.
The MTCC said that all applications would have to undergo an independent third party assessment before the council can decide to issue the certificate, it said in a statement released here today.
The standard to be used for assessing FMUs is the Malaysian Criteria, Indicators, Activities and Standards of Performance for Forest Management Certification (MC&I). The MTCC said there are 29 indicators in the MC&I which originated from a mutually agreed standard used under the Malaysia-The Netherlands cooperation programme in timber certification.
This standard was developed taking into account the requirements for timber from sustainably managed forests specified by the Keurhout Foundation and the 1998 ITTO (International Tropical Timber Organization) Criteria and Indicators.
The use of the MC&I represents the first phase of the MTCC scheme.
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) compatible standard which is being formulated through a multi-stakeholder, participatory consultation will be used in the second phase.
In conjunction with the operation of the MTCC scheme, the states of Perak, Johor, Kedah and Negeri Sembilan have recently been assessed as FMUs to the requirements of the MC&I.
The three states involved in the Malaysia-The Netherlands programme - Pahang, Selangor and Terengganu - are due for re-assessment by early 2002, together with the assessment of Kelantan.
In Sabah and Sarawak, where the FMUs are mainly managed by companies, some have indicated interest in using the MC&I.
"It is hoped that when all these assessments have been carried out by early 2002, a significant area of permanent reserved forests would have been independently assessed.
This would provide valuable feedback on the current status of forest management in the country," said the chief executive officer of MTCC Chew Lye Teng.