Area of land undergoing development (road construction, expansion of human settlement, cultivation of farms) |
Application to the Forestry Commission |
Approval of the Forestry Commission |
Chief conservator issues a salvage permit |
Relevant pieces of domestic legislation:
The Voluntary Partnership Agreement negotiated between the European Union and Ghana defines what legally produced timber is. The definition sets out Ghana's legislation that must be complied with in order for timber products to be covered by FLEGT licenses. The definition limits legal sources of timber to TUCs, Salvage Permits and Certificates of Purchase.
Accordingly, a product containing wood sourced from Ghana can be licensed for sale within Ghana and for export from Ghana in cases where the logger at the time of felling held a valid salvage permit. However the VPA adds a couple of requirements for the issuance of salvage permits which are not currently specified in domestic law. Accordingly the procedure is amended as follows:
Area of land undergoing development (road construction, expansion of human settlement, cultivation of farms) |
Application |
The Forestry Services Division (FSD) conducts inspection about the justification for commercial trees in a defined location to be salvaged |
FSD submits its report to the CEO of the FC |
Approval of the Forestry Commission |
Chief conservator issues a salvage permit |
It should be noted that in addition to confirming the legality of the type of permit, other elements are required in order to issue FLEGT licenses. All the components of legality mentioned in the VPA have to be complied with (that includes principles relating to the source of timber, timber rights allocation, timber harvesting operations, transportation, processing, trade and fiscal obligations).
Under the EUTR, operators have a due diligence obligation (Articles 4-6) to assess the risk of the timber and timber products they place on the EU market containing illegally harvested timber. Amongst other things, the due diligence obligation requires information/ documentation to prove that the felling permit is legally recognised by Ghanaian law.
Therefore, operators must confirm the legality of the salvage permit under which the timber was logged as part of the risk assessment they are conducting. They should consider whether the permit was obtained correctly and its terms properly respected.