Introduction
This guide is a set of tools developed by VNGO-FLEGT Network in Vietnam (VNGO-FLEGT),
led by the Center for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD), in collaboration with timber
associations, Vietnam Rubber Association (VRA), and experts, with the objective to support /
promote the implementation of the clause on impact monitoring within the Voluntary Partnership
Agreement on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (VPA-FLEGT), as stipulated in
Article 16 and Annex IX of the Agreement. The purpose of this clause is to monitor the expected
or unexpected impact of VPA based on a flexible set of metrics, and based on that, propose a
plan to mitigate the negative impacts on economic, social, and environmental aspects.
The VPA-FLEGT Agreement came into effect on June 1, 2019 as agreed between the EU and
the Government of Vietnam, to ensure that organizations and households in Vietnam involving
in timber supply chains must comply with the legal timber requirements of domestic and export
markets. The main contents of the VPA are in accordance with the Forestry Law, and therefore,
have been made into decrees and circulars, including a decree on timber legality assurance
system (VNTLAS) which will be issued by the Government in 2019, in addition to the Circular
27/2018/TT-BNNPTNT of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on management
and tracking of forest products, Decree 156/2018/ND-CP of the Government on the details of
some articles of the Forestry Law, as some of the key regulations on legal timber supply
activities of relevant parties. In principle, these are not new legal frameworks for management of
legal timber and forest products; previously, enterprises and households in the timber industry
had to comply with similar provisions of the Law on Forest Protection and Development 2004.
However, with the new Forestry Law and VPA-FLEGT, enterprises and stakeholders will have
to adapt and comply with new requirements on legal timber, which are more comprehensive and
adherent to the supply chain