ANS Standard for Due Diligence in Procuring/Sourcing Legal Timber

ANS LTDD 1.0 - 2013
The following requirements are intended for suppliers in the Medium and
Low Risk categories sourcing timber from Medium and High Risk
countries.
4.4.4 Legality Requirements Determination of Country/Region/FMU -
A list of legal requirements of the timber source countries or regions is
important for:
The documentation request of the Preliminary Risk Assessment of
Suppliers (Section 4.4.2.1)
The improvement programs for Medium and Low Risk suppliers
procuring outside the country of harvest (4.5.3)
The Coordinator shall maintain a database of legal requirements of the
timber source countries or regions. Legal requirements may be limited to
those pertaining to forest management and/or those relevant to
stakeholder concerns. A list of species handled, including component
species, and their likely countries of origin shall be maintained to limit or
expand the analysis of legal requirements according to the Operator‟s
handled species. (see Appendix A4 for resources.)
A legal review based on the laws of the country may be performed by
local legal counsel with expertise both in forestry and export laws. This
legal review combined with a thorough review of all the appropriate
documentation can be used to establish the legality of the initial
ownership with the right to sell, harvest, transport, and export.
Legal requirements may be unclear because of conflicting
local/national/international laws. In these instances the Coordinator shall
note the conflict and document the basis for the legal determination in the
database.
4.4.5 Collection of Documentation - For procurement outside the country of
harvest, the Coordinator shall collect a questionnaire and legality
declaration to determine the risk rating of the supplier on an annual basis.
The following document verification procedure shall be considered in
determining the risk of the supplier.
For procurement inside the country of harvest, the Coordinator shall
determine the fulfillment of legality requirements by collecting objective
evidence and completing the following document verification procedure:
4.4.5.1 Legal Right to Harvest
The Coordinator shall collect/conduct the following:
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