13 May 2014, Euflegt news - Stakeholders from government, civil society and industry recommended improvements to the SVLK regulations and standards in a national consultation with stakeholders in Jakarta on 19 March. Regional consultation workshops held in Bali, Medan and Yogyakarta earlier this year led up to the national event. SVLK stands for Sistem Verifikasi Legalitas Kayu, Indonesia's timber legality assurance system (TLAS).

The participants discussed easier access for smallholders to the SVLK, how to document the legality of timber imported to Indonesia and how to strengthen civil society monitoring. They suggested adding a reference to the laws and regulations related to the special autonomy of some of Indonesia's provinces and proposed revising the independent auditing rules that lead to SVLK  certification, including public announcements of the audits.

The Government of Indonesia has invited comments until 15 May on the resulting draft revised SVLK regulations, to be issued in June this year. The drafts can be viewed or downloaded through the menu link 'Download/Regulation' (Unduh berkas/Peraturan) at the Ministry of Forestry website for its timber legality information system, SILK. The announcement of the posting is here and a direct link to the page for downloading regulations is here.

Indonesia and the EU have developed an action plan to advance VPA implementation. The Ministry of Forestry posted the 'Indonesian–EU Action Plan on Advancement of VPA Implementation' on the Indonesian Legal Wood website, Sistem Informasi Legalitas Kayu. The Action Plan outlines the 17 steps that will prepare Indonesia to issue FLEGT-licensed timber. Representatives of Indonesia, the EU delegation to Indonesia and the EU FLEGT Facility reviewed and updated the Action Plan during meetings in Jakarta in January 2014.

Source: http://www.fao.org/docrep/019/i3731e/i3731e.pdf