The UNECE Timber Committee provides member countries, with information
and services that feed into their policy and decision-making process
as regards their forest and forest industry sector, including the trade
and use of forest products. The following standardization activities
have been carried out by the Committee to facilitate international trade
of forest products.
1. General Conditions for Export and Import of Sawn Softwood, done
at Geneva, October 1956;
2. General Conditions for the Export and Import of Hardwood Logs and
Sawn Hardwood from the Temperate Zone, done at Geneva, November 1961;
3. The UNECE recommended standard on Stress Grading (amendment of the
1982 standard) and Finger Jointing of Coniferous Sawn Timber, done at
Geneva, October 1988; (this standard was submitted to ISO TC 165, Timber
Structures, and partially adopted as an ISO standard).
The Timber Committee, with its partners in FAO and other organizations,
plays a major role in harmonizing the terminology used for analysis and
statistics worldwide. For instance, the terminologies and classifications
developed by the UNECE (in cooperation with others) on forest products
and the forest resource are used in practically all international analyses
of developments, and are drawn on by international multisectoral classifications.
Website