(1)

On 21 May 2003, the Commission adopted a Communication to the Council and the European Parliament entitled ‘Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) – Proposal for an EU Action Plan’ aimed at contributing to the global efforts to tackle illegal logging and its associated trade. The Council adopted its conclusions on the FLEGT action plan (the ‘action plan’) on 13 October 2003 (1) and the European Parliament adopted its resolution on the action plan on 11 July 2005 (2).

(2)

A central element of the action plan was the conclusion of voluntary partnership agreements with timber-producing countries to ensure that timber and timber products exported to the Union were legally produced and acquired.

(3)

In accordance with Council Decision 2011/200/EU (3), the Voluntary Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Cameroon on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade in timber and derived products to the European Union (FLEGT) (the ‘VPA’) was signed on 6 October 2010.

(4)

In accordance with Council Decision 2011/201/EU (4), the VPA was concluded on behalf of the Union. Following its conclusion by the Republic of Cameroon, the VPA entered into force on 1 December 2011 for a period of seven years, renewable by tacit agreement for periods of the same length unless one party notifies its intention not to renew the VPA at least 12 months before the expiry of the period under way.

(5)

The Republic of Cameroon has not been able to fulfil its obligations under the VPA, namely in relation to the progress in establishing the FLEGT licensing scheme aimed at verifying and attesting, by means of a FLEGT licence, that timber and derived products exported to the Union are legally produced or acquired. Therefore, the Commission believes that the VPA will not enable timber and timber products from the Republic of Cameroon to benefit from the provisions of Article 3 of Regulation (EU) No 995/2010 (5) and, as of 30 December 2025, of Article 10(3) in conjunction with Article 3, point (b), of Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6).

(6)

It is therefore appropriate that the VPA should cease to apply. It should either not be renewed beyond 30 November 2025 or should be terminated as soon as possible thereafter.

(7)

Article 27 of the VPA would have allowed for the non-renewal of the VPA as of 1 December 2025 if notification of the decision not to renew would have been made by either Party prior to 1 December 2024. Due to time constraints, the Union can no longer avail itself of the possibility of notifying a non-renewal beyond 30 November 2025 pursuant to Article 27 of the VPA.

(8)

Pursuant to Article 28 of the VPA, either Party may denounce the VPA by notifying the other Party. In such a case, the VPA would cease to apply 12 months after the date of such notification.

(9)

Article 54(b) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties allows for the termination of international agreements at any time by consent of all the parties. The VPA could thus be terminated, pursuant to that provision, by the conclusion of a Joint Declaration between the Union and the Republic of Cameroon, in which both Parties agree to terminate the VPA on 30 November 2025. In such a case the VPA would no longer be in force as of 1 December 2025.

(10)

The termination of the VPA pursuant to either of the above actions should be approved on behalf of the Union,