On December 10-14, 2018, the Softwood Export Council and its members, the American Lumber
Standards Committee, Western Wood Products Association, and the Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau
met in Portland, OR with a delegation from the Korea Forest Service (KFS) and National Institute of
Forest Science (NIFoS) to discuss the Korea FQII quality labeling certification for imported softwood
lumber and U.S. manufacturing processes and quality control.
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The regulation, introduced in August 2018, requires each shipment of imported softwood lumber
include a quality certificate issued by an international government or appointed organization. Each
country interested in legally exporting softwood lumber to Korea must apply for FQII through
KFS. Once an FQII application is initially approved, final approval requires inspection and testing of a
sample of U.S. mills by the Korean government authorized inspection agency (now the Korea Forest
Promotion Institute (KoFPI). Under the current law (which was enacted on May 1, 2018), every shipment
of imported lumber is to be inspected by KoFPI before its entry into Korea and then the inspection result
is marked on the lumber.  While the law was enacted, is not being enforced and no international lumber
certification agencies have applied for FQII.

Following the formal meeting the U.S. and Korean representatives spent a day touring Sierra Pacific
Industries’ Centralia, Washington mill. During the mill tour and an on-site grading workshop, the Korean
delegation learned about softwood lumber manufacturing processes, grading, and quality control.
WWPA staff also accompanied the group to Oregon State University where the delegation visited the
forest products laboratory and toured a CLT building.
Later in the week SEC member, Oregon Forest Resources Institute arranged visits to mass timber
projects where the group met with the project architect to discuss engineering and design
considerations and project design.

As a result of the two-days of discussions with ALSC, WWPA, and PLIB, ALSC will continue to
communicate with NIFoS to see what additional information will be required to complete
the draft application that was provided by NIFoS. NIFoS will continue to review the draft application
supplied by ALSC and provide feedback on additional information required.

As last reported on the Korean Forest Research Institute’s (KFRI) effort in developing its own lumber grading system and requiring lumber imports to S. Korea to meet its proprietary grading stamp, progress has been made to find an alternative solution to the requirement. Also since the last report, the Korean Forest Research Institute has changed its name to NIFoS, the National Institute of Forest Science.

The implementation of Korea's grading standard is on hold until the General Assembly of Korea approves an amendment to the law allowing the Korean Lumber Standard, most likely in the beginning of 2017.  NIFoS has also confirmed the acceptance of North American structural lumber on an equivalent design value basis to the Korean Standard's three structural grades, provided our grades exceed the established properties of Korean grades. Pending their review of the specific grade requirements, NIFoS indicated their willingness to include a table recognizing three appearance grades for each grade rule agency that are equivalent to the three appearance grades in the Korean Standard. 

NIFoS had previously included only WWPA C Select, No2 Com, and No.3 Com as acceptable, to the exclusion of other species and rules. NIFoS confirmed, in the case of both structural and appearance grade lumber, that the requirements to label each piece in Korean, and to the appropriate Korean grade, will be the responsibility of the importer. The trade-off will be a the necessary provision of information to the importer regarding the equivalent Korean grade. It is unclear how this will manifest in the end, but discussion to date includes use of bundle tags or supplemental paperwork, etc. 

A remaining unresolved item deals with the proposed Korean Lumber Standard being considered by the Korean General Assembly. It establishes parameters recognizing a foreign inspection institute or body (FQII). NIFoS indicated the Korean Forest Service's (KFS) position remains that ALSC or CSLAB (Canada) will not qualify as FQIIs, but that each accredited agency would be eligible to apply. However, NIFoS also noted that the amendment, if passed, would allow their input beyond that of KFS, and they agreed that recognition of accredited agencies through ALSC or CLSAB provided a much simpler solution than dealing with all the individual agencies.

NIFoS indicated they would continue to provide any further information they receive and noted they understood the reasons expressed by ALSC and CLSAB for recognition of the systems in whole. 

For more information on this issue, please contact SEC.

At the start of 2016, the Korean Research Forestry Institute will begin using a new standard in lumber grading, affecting acceptable trade with Korea. Their Notification on Sawn Lumber has only three grades and requires all labels and grade marks to be in Korean (labels with both Korean and English are acceptable). The regulations are complex, and time is limited to negotiate with officials. While Korea's existing lumber standard recognizes U.S. grades via equivalence with all North American softwood, KRFI has yet to agree to publicly recognize our American Lumber Standard Committee, though they are working toward recognizing the Canadian Lumber Standard Accreditation Board. As we work with Korea government, we encourage you to reach out to your own importers in Korea to see what impact this will have on their trade with the U.S. Please share any difficulties your encounter with SEC so we may inform the U.S. Trade Representative. 

We will have more information as we investigate the new standard, and update our members as we post on the topic. Notification information courtesy of Kevin Chueng.