Nov 03, 2011. /Lesprom Network/. In 2010, the official Dutch government timber procurement body TPAC judged that the Malaysian Timber Certification System (MTCS) does not meet the Dutch procurement criteria for wood. On 19 October 2011, the Board of Appeal of Stichting Milieukeur (SMK), an independent panel, rejected the Malaysian Timber Certification Council’s (MTCC) appeal against this decision, ITTO reported. The UK Timber Trades Journal suggests that the main reason for TPAC’s rejection of MTCS is what it claims is the scheme’s limited recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples and lack of adequate protection against the conversion of certified natural forest to other uses, including plantations. The SMK appeals panel said MTCC had not provided substantive arguments in their case. “The result is that the MTCC Board’s action is on all counts dismissed,” it said. An MTCC spokesperson said it regretted the decision, which it said undermined the efforts by developing tropical forest countries like Malaysia to implement timber certification. “As a voluntary timber certification scheme that has been developed through a Malaysian multi-stakeholder process, the MTCS is unfortunately held responsible by SMK for issues that are inherent to the Malaysian constitutional, legal and political system,” said MTCC chief executive Chew Lye Teng. “Secondly, the SMK unfortunately chose not to take into consideration the additional measures to address the TPAC concerns that have been agreed between MTCC and the Dutch State secretary Joop Atsma.” “Contrary to the SMK ruling, the Danish, British, French and UK governments and the German municipality of Hamburg have recognised the MTCS as providing assurance of sustainable timber,” said the MTCC. The Netherlands is the largest market for Malaysian timber in the EU. In 2010, Netherlands imported around 100,000 cubic metres of hardwood lumber from Malaysia. The Netherlands accounts for 49% of exports of MTCS certified timber products.