The VPA is a legally-binding bilateral trade agreement that aims to improve forest governance and promote trade in legal timber from Vietnam to the EU.

The core of the VPA describes Vietnam’s timber legality assurance system (VNTLAS), which will ensure that timber products are verified legal according to specified requirements for all stages of the supply chain, from the forest or the point of import to the point of final sale or export.

The VPA legality definition itself sets out the core requirements of legislation applicable to timber in Vietnam in the form of principles, criteria and verifiers.

Definitions - Article 2 of VPA