Peru informed the United States Trade Representative that one of three scrutinized timber shipments made to the U.S. in 2017 was harvested illegally.
The country’s investigation of the three shipments follows a request by the United States Trade Representative in February that Peru verify the shipments were compliant with Peruvian logging regulations under the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA).
Peruvian authorities said they were able to trace two of the shipments back to six forest land titles, which the country said were compliant with its laws, regulations and other enforced harvesting measures.
However, the country found that it could not establish that the third shipment’s timber products were compliant with its laws. Its inspection of the land title associated with the shipment found that the trees “were not harvested from the authorized site and that there were inaccuracies in the forest land title holder’s management plan,” according to a USTR press release.
Peru’s Supervisory Agency for Forest and Wildlife Resources (OSINFOR) has informed authorities of the irregularities “and the proceedings are pending.”
In the press release, the U.S.’s Interagency Committee on Trade in Timber Products from Peru (Timber Committee) noted progress in the country’s handling of illegal logging practices, but also stated it has questions regarding how Peru was able to fully verify its other two shipments were compliant.
“The Timber Committee is committed to ongoing engagement with Peru to seek a better understanding of its methodology for tracing timber throughout the supply chain,” the committee stated.
The committee also released a new list of recommendations for the country in regards to its timber exports, including taking faster action in response to irregularities found in shipment logs as well as initiating more timely post-harvest inspections.
