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Asia Pulp & Paper secures certification

Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP) announced it secured SVLK certification for all of its nine mills. SVLK is the Indonesian Wood Legality Verification System, and APP confirmed that the full scope of its operations is now SVLK certified, meeting the highest global standards for wood legality. Source: Financial Post

Enacted in 2009 by the Indonesian government, SVLK creates a rigorous chain of custody process designed to ensure that mills only receive and process timber from legal sources, and that all products exported from Indonesia are traceable to verifiable points of origin.

The final certification was received by APP’s Pindo Deli Perawang mill on November 7, 2012, following the certification of eight other mills since July of this year.

With this final certification, APP has achieved its aim of being wholly certified by January 2013.

“With the new requirements in the U.S. and Europe, we are seeing that market demands proof that all products imported from Indonesia come from legal, verifiable and traceable sources,” said Ian Lifshitz, director of sustainability for APP in North America.

“We are pleased to have achieved our goal of 100% compliance ahead of our self-imposed deadline.

“Beyond fulfilling these legal requirements, on June 5, 2012, we initiated an ambitious sustainability program which includes eliminating deforestation in the supply chain by 2015, as detailed in our Sustainability Roadmap Vision 2020.”

Just as SVLK addresses US legality standards under the Lacey Act, it also has an important role to play in helping Indonesian companies meet new European Timber Regulation (EUTR).

“As the national timber legality standard, SVLK provides assurance to global markets that all Indonesian wood based products are traceable to legal points of origin. Our standards are recognized internationally and facilitate the export of Indonesian products around the world,” said Dr Ir Dwi Sudharto, MSi, Director of Forest Product Processing and Marketing Development at the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry.

“This would not be possible without the support of the industry, and APP has been a strong advocate of this program from the start. We commend APP on the achievement of having all its mills certified.”