SVLK Causes Troubles for Furniture Business

TEMPO.CO, Jepara – English forest expert Andy Roby, who has been working for eight years in Indonesia, said that the cancelation of the Timber Legality Verification System (SVLK) implementation would cause Indonesia losing its market in Europe, if not in the world. “Buyers tend to ask the certificate as a Teak furniture manufacturer legality verification of [timber] products,” Roby told Tempo on Saturday, October 31, 2015. An amendment of Trade Minister Regulation No. 97/M-DAG/PER/12/2014 on the provisions of forestry product exports to Trade Minister Regulation No. 89/2015 stipulates that exporters of furniture and timber products only need Export Declarations, while the SVLK need

to be fulfilled by raw material suppliers. CV Surya Alam owner Sas Bourjot said, “Every time I attend an expo overseas, [buyers] always ask me whether I have the certificate. They are willing to buy if I have the certificate. Arwin, who has run furniture manufacturer Teak Nation, said that the SVLK had caused troubles and increase the cost to extend the certificate. “It was said that the certificate could boost incomes, but it couldn’t,” he said. Therefore, furniture exporters who supported and opposed the SVLK gathered in a discussion entitled “The Implication of SVLK Implementation of Furniture Exporters.” The

idea to establish the SVLK was pitched for the first time in 2001 in a bid to improve forestry governance and to prevent illegal logging. The timber Teak garden furniture exporter certification is aimed at reaching buyers who are aware of the environment sustainability, as well as ensuring the availability of timber.

SVLK Causes Troubles for Furniture Business