Korea Forest Service Expands 'Legal Logging Import Declaration' to Include Pulp and More

Five wood products, including pulp, will be added to the list of items requiring legal logging import declarations.

The Korea Forest Service announced on the 16th that from this month, pulp, particleboard, fiberboard, molded wood, and veneer will be included in the legal logging import declaration requirements.

The legal logging import declaration system was introduced and implemented in 2018 to prevent indiscriminate forest damage caused by illegal logging and to respond to the climate crisis. However, the applicable items were limited to logs, sawn timber, plywood, and pellets.

With the expansion of the declaration items starting this month, the proportion of imported wood products subject to legal logging verification will increase from 45% to 83%. The Korea Forest Service explained that this is expected to lead to improved transparency in domestic wood products.

However, to reduce the burden on related industries, a grace period will be applied until May 15 of next year for the newly included legal logging import declaration items.

During the grace period, penalties will be exempted even if there are deficiencies in the declaration. This measure takes into account the difficulty importers face in immediately preparing verification documents due to annual contracts, and if supplementation is needed after the import declaration, related procedures will be guided along with the declaration results.

Park Eun-sik, Director of International Forest Cooperation at the Korea Forest Service, stated, “By strengthening the verification of the legality of imported wood, we will promote the sound consumption of wood and enhance the transparency of raw materials used by the domestic wood industry to increase international competitiveness.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.