In 2011, APEC ministers responsible for trade directed officials to establish an experts’ group to promote trade in legally harvested forest products, combat illegal logging and associated trade, and build capacity. In the same year, at the APEC leaders’ meeting in Hawaii, Leaders committed to implementing appropriate measures to prohibit trade in illegally harvested forest products and to do more to combat illegal logging and associated trade.

To accomplish this mission, the APEC Expert Group on Illegal Logging and Associated Trade (EGILAT) was created in 2011.The first EGILAT meeting was held in 2012.

In 2015, EGILAT members reached consensus on a milestone document which clearly identifies the scope of illegal logging and associated trade (APEC Common Understanding of the Scope of Illegal Logging and Associated Trade).

The Goal of EGILAT

EGILAT’s Terms of Reference states that the group’s overall goal is to enhance the efforts of member economies to take concrete steps to combat illegal logging and associated trade, promote trade in legally harvested forest products, and support capacity building activities in member economies.

EGILAT Terms of Reference for 2026-2029 was endorsed by EGILAT and approved by SOM Steering Committee on ECOTECH Cooperation (SCE) in 2025.

Timber Legality Guidance Documents

In 2014, EGILAT members agreed to develop a compendium of timber legality guidance documents, to promote the trade in legally harvested forest products within the APEC region. These documents seek to provide clarity and transparency for businesses, governments and civil groups on what constitutes legal and illegally logged timber within individual APEC economies.

Looking Ahead

In 2018, EGILAT members endorsed the EGILAT Multi-Year Strategic Plan 2018–2022 to guide its work over the next five years and endorsed the Multi-Year Strategic Plan 2023-2027 in 2022.

Current Activities

EGILAT’s Two-year Policy Theme

On its 15^th meeting in Santiago, Chile in February 2019, EGILAT agreed to implement a dedicated two-year policy theme focused on “Advancing the trade and distribution of legally harvested forest products.”

This two-year policy theme (2019–2021) has been successfully completed in December 2021 and were documented in the following publications:

• APEC EGILAT Policy Theme: Advancing the Trade and Distribution of Legally Harvested Forest Products
• APEC EGILAT Survey of Private Sector Organizations in the Forest Products Supply Chain
• The Compendium of Resources for the Facilitation of the Trade and Distribution of Legally Harvested Forest Products in the APEC Region

In 2022, EGILAT members endorsed the EGILAT Policy Theme 2 (2022-2023), “Advancing the trade and distribution of legally harvested forest products: Navigating to legal timber.”

The Policy Theme 2 has three objectives:

1. Outline the different approaches to promoting timber legality among APEC economies;
2. Consider future opportunities to enhance timber legality measures by exploring available and emerging data, tools and technologies to help navigate the legal timber globally; and
3. Improving the Compendium of Resources for the Facilitation of the Trade and Distribution of Legally Harvested Forest products in the APEC region, published in 2021 as part of Policy Theme 1.

The Policy Theme 2 was completed with the following publications from two APEC-funded projects.

EGILAT 01 2022A

• Advancing the Trade and Distribution of Legally Harvested Forest Products: Navigating to Legal Timber
• Compendium of Resources for the Facilitation of the Trade and Distribution of Legally Harvested Forest Products in the APEC Region 

EGILAT 02 2022A

• Research Paper - Development of Integrated Timber Data for Enhancing Legal Timber Trade in the Asia-Pacific Region
• Final Report - Developing Integrated Timber Data to Enhance Legal Timber Trade of the APEC through Xylaria Networking

EGILAT endorsed its 3^rd Policy Theme (2024-2025): “Promoting Legal Timber Trade through Enhanced Stakeholder Collaboration for Effective Implementation and Enforcement” in April 2024.

Meetings

The 29^th EGILAT Meeting was held in Guangzhou, China, on 4-6 February 2026.

In China’s 2026 APEC Host year, China will host the 2026 APEC Ministerial Meeting on Forestry in Shenzhen on 27-28 July. And the 30^th EGILAT meeting will be held on 29-30 July in Shenzhen.