ASEAN Working Group on a Pan-ASEAN Timber Certification Initiative (AWG-PATCI)

The AWG-PATCI was created in 2002 as an ad hoc working group under ASEAN Senior Officials on Forestry (ASOF) to explore concrete measures for regional cooperation in timber certification between ASEAN Member States. The main objective of the working group is to support ASOF and ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF) in decision making and implementation process by providing specific policy oriented and focused research and policy analysis including capacity building activities relevant to legality and sustainability, and trade in legal timber products.

It was elevated into a permanent working group within the ASEAN Framework in 2008. This is in line with the broader vision of ASEAN to realize the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint for trade in legal and sustainable timber by the year 2015.

Since its inaugural meeting in 2002, the Working Group has made much progress with the formulation and adoption of a number of key documents that include the following:
1. The ASEAN Guideline on Phased Approach to Forest Certification;
2. The six elements for the definition of legality of timber;
3. The ASEAN Criteria and Indicators for Legality of Timber; and
4. The ASEAN CoC Guidelines for Legal Timber and Sustainable Timber.

The Group meets annually.