Veuillez trouver les versions françaises ci-dessous:
- République du Congo Analyse Risque Légalité (Risk Assessment)
- République du Congo Guide Actions Atténuation (Risk Mitigation Guide)
- République du Congo Guide documentaire (Document Guide)
- République du Congo Liste législation en vigueur (List of Applicable Legislation)
The Timber Legality Risk Assessment for the Republic of Congo contains an evaluation of the risk of illegality in the Republic of Congo for 6 categories and 26 sub-categories of law.
For the forest sector we found:
• Specified risk for 17 sub-categories.
• Low risk for 2 sub-categories.
• No legal requirements for 2 sub-categories.
For wood processing we found:
• Specified risk for 5 sub-categories
This page provides an overview of the legality risks related to timber produced in the Republic of Congo.
The Republic of Congo's forest cover represents about 65% of the national territory and is particularly located in the North and South-West of the country (FAO, 2020). Forest exploitation contributes about 5% to the Republic of Congo's GDP (ATIBT, 2019), and is thus the second-largest national source of income after the hydrocarbon sector.
The Forest Code clearly distinguishes the state-owned forest domain from the private forest domain. The state-owned forest domain is estimated at more than 20 million hectares, including 15 million hectares set as production forests, 3.9 million hectares for forest conservation, and around 60,000 hectares for industrial plantations (FAO, 2020) (essentially made of Eucalyptus, Pine, and Limba crops).
The forestry sector in the Congo has been the subject of major difficulties in terms of governance. Chatham House (2018) assessed Congo’s legal and institutional framework and law enforcement as “weak”.
Moreover, Chatham House evaluates that timber exports contain between 60% and 70% of illegal timber (2011 to 2014). In addition, artisanal or so-called “informal” logging is also fueling illegal timber logging.
Several legality risks are present in the Republic of Congo's timber supply chains. The risks are wide-ranging and appear across all categories of law. If you are sourcing timber from the Republic of Congo, you should take care to ensure the extensive risks identified are not present in your supply chains or have been sufficiently mitigated.
Score: 21 / 100 in 2021
Rank: 162 out of 180 countries in 2021
No armed conflicts according to the Global Conflict Tracker. The Uppsala Conflict Data Program reports that there were 74 deaths from state-based violence between 2010 - 2020.
Appendix II – Pericopsis elata; Prunus Africana.
Information Gathering
Timber sources
- Find out the different sources of legal timber
- Determine which source type your timber comes from
Timber source type | Description of source type |
---|---|
Industrial processing agreement (Convention de transformation industrielle, CTI) |
Forest management units (UFA). Titles to disappear by 2023 |
Management and processing agreement (Convention d’aménagement et de transformation, CAT) |
Forest management units (UFA) |
Plantation timber promotion agreement |
It can be under either: |
Domestic logging permit |
Domestic logging units. |
Plantation timber logging permit |
Forest plantations of the State-owned forest domain. |
Wood from deforestation operations |
Wood from infrastructure, industrial and agricultural projects, etc. requiring deforestation. The wood can be sold. |
Special permit |
Protected forests and community forests. |
Private land title |
Private natural forests and forest plantations |
Risk Assessment
Risk assessment summary
Legal rights to harvest |
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Taxes and fees |
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Timber harvesting activities
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Third parties' rights
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Trade and transport |
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Processing
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Risk Mitigation
Mitigate the risks in your supply chain
Learn which actions we recommended to mitigate the risks associated with the timber sources from the Republic of Congo.
Source Certified Materials
NEPCon believes that third-party certification (for example FSC and PEFC certification) can provide strong assurances of the legality of the products they cover. Companies seeking to mitigate the risks of sourcing illegal timber should seek to purchase third-party certified materials wherever possible.
While the European Timber Regulation does not include an automatic “green lane” for certified products, it does recognize the value of certification as a tool for risk assessment and mitigation. The European Commission says that companies “may rate credibly certified products as having the negligible risk of being illegal, i.e. suitable for placing on the market with no further risk mitigation measures, provided that the rest of the information gathered and the replies to the risk assessment questions do not contradict such a conclusion.”
For more information on using certified materials in your due diligence, including how to assess whether a certification system meets EUTR requirements, see the page on Certification and Due Diligence.
Mitigation recommendations for non-certified materials
Where certified materials are not available, we have two tools to help you mitigate risks for the Republic of Congo timber supply chains:
- the Risk Mitigation Guide gives you a detailed overview of risks in the Republic of Congo, and how to mitigate them. You can find the Risk Mitigation Guide in french here.
- the Document Guide provides you with a list of all required documents and examples of key documents and how to use them in mitigating risks.
There are five recommended actions to mitigate the risks associated with timber sourced from the Republic of Congo:
1. Fully map your supply chain
- Our supply chain mapping tool can help you do this.
2. Obtain and verify documents
3. Consult with stakeholders
4. Carry out on-site verification
5. Conduct targeted timber testing
- Conduct timber testing on samples of purchased material to verify the species of origin of timber, where appropriate