New Zealand Imported Tropical Timber Group

Charter of Understanding

1.Membership and Attendance of Meetings

The New Zealand Imported Tropical Timber Group (ITTG) comprises representatives of New Zealand's tropical timber importers, tropical timber retailers, and environment and conservation organisations. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is represented as an observer.

There is a Task Force of the ITTG comprising one representative of each of timber importers, retailers and conservation groups. The Chairman of ITTG and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry representative are members of the Task Force, ex officio. The Task Force has been established to actively seek and develop sources of sustainably managed tropical timber, and it reports back to the ITTG Council.

The representative decision making body for the ITTG members is the ITTG Council. ITTG Council representatives shall be limited to individuals duly elected, invited or appointed to represent their industry sector or organisation's interest. Attendance at ITTG meetings is limited to ITTG Council members, except by special invitation of the Council. It shall be made up of a maximum of 20 representatives: six timber and manufactured board importer, six timber retailer, four conservation and environment NGO, one furniture manufacturer, two furniture importers, with Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry as an observer. A preference shall be given to representatives of industry or sector organisations.

Membership of the ITTG is open to all groups and companies with an interest in the tropical timber trade. Members of ITTG acknowledge the importance of active participation by interested groups outside the original founding member groups. Membership shall be open to individuals duly elected, invited or appointed to represent their industry, sector or organisation's interest. Membership is through invitation with the consensus support of the ITTG Council. Members agree to abide by the conditions established in the Charter of Understanding and membership can be revoked by the Council if conditions are breached.

The ITTG has a spokesperson and a chairperson who are elected once a year by the group. The spokesperson is the official representative of the Group. Decisions of the Council are made by consensus at meetings which are held approximately four times a year.

2.Goals

The goals of the Group are as follows:

2.1 To ensure that all tropical timber imported into New Zealand is sourced from sustainably managed forests.
2.2 To agree on certification procedures that provides purchasers with a reliable assurance of the sourcing of the product from sustainably managed forests.
2.3 To seek understanding of and common ground between members of the Group on the key issues underpinning both the tropical timber trade and management of tropical forests.
2.4 To promote the findings, decisions and goals of the Group and where appropriate contribute to relevant policies of Government and international tropical timber agencies.
2.5 To have the entire tropical timber trade in New Zealand represented on the Group.

3.Conditions of Membership of ITTG

The following conditions apply to members of the ITTG. In addition, further conditions may be agreed to from time to time through consensus at ITTG Council meetings.

3.1 All members of the Group agree to use the definition of "sustainable management" of tropical forests as determined by the ITTG. Guidance for defining 'sustainably managed forests' is contained in the ITTG Criteria for Management of Pacific Indigenous Tropical Forests for Ecotimber, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Principles and Criteria for Forest Management, and the ITTO Criteria and Indicators for the Management of Natural Tropical Forest. No claim of tropical timber 'sustainability' by an ITTG member is valid without verification by a credible third party certification scheme. Where third party legality verification is necessary, it should be seen as a time-bound step in the process towards sustainability, not as a substitute for same.
3.2 All members of the Group agree to not advertise or otherwise promote tropical timber decking that is sourced from unsustainably managed forests.
3.3 Timber trade members agree to actively seek sources of timber from certified sustainably managed forests or tree plantations, and as such sources become available, to phase out the importing and sale of timber from non-sustainable sources. Timber trade and importer members shall develop timber procurement policies that reflect and implement the ITTG Charter. Such policies will be publicly available and progress reports on the implementation of the policies will be presented to the ITTG Council annually. New members shall comply with these requirements upon application and existing members shall comply with this requirement from June 2003.
3.4 Timber retailers and importers agree not to source tropical timber from Sabah and Sarawak until timber from these countries can be sourced from sustainably managed forests.
3.5 Conservation and environment non-government organisations agree not to demonstrate or issue media statements against members of the ITTG on issues relating to the ITTG goals while members are abiding by the conditions of the Group and then only after discussion through the ITTG chairperson.
3.6 Non-governmental environment and conservation organisation ITTG members shall publicly recognise (such as through their website or publications) those companies who adopt wood product procurement policies that are consistent with ITTG goals, have clear timelines for achieving them and are making progress towards the goal of certified sustainable sources. NGO representatives will report annually to the ITTG Council on their efforts to achieve the ITTG goals.

First agreed October 1994 Revised and adopted June 2002 Revised and confirmed August 2004 Revised and amended October 2007