SVLK, FLEGT, EUDR: what actually guarantees legal timber

“Wood from sustainably managed forests”: the phrase is everywhere, and guarantees nothing. Behind tropical furniture, though, there are real control systems — verifiable and demanding. Three acronyms sum them up: SVLK, FLEGT, EUDR — and they deserve to be understood by anyone buying exotic wood furniture.

SVLK (Sistem Verifikasi Legalitas Kayu) is Indonesia's national timber legality assurance system. Every link — from felling to export — must prove the legal origin of its material, backed by independent audits. It's not a declaration on trust: it's an audited certification, without which timber does not legally leave the archipelago.

From Jakarta to Brussels: the FLEGT licence

On the European side, the FLEGT mechanism (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) turns that control into a customs reality: every shipment of Indonesian timber to the EU travels with a FLEGT licence. Indonesia was in fact the first country in the world to earn that status, in 2016 — a recognition of SVLK's robustness. One licence per shipment, checked on entry into Europe.

“Sustainability isn't declared: it's documented, shipment by shipment.”

More recently comes the EUDR, the EU regulation against deforestation: beyond legality, it requires proof that the wood does not come from recently deforested land, backed by plot-level geolocation. It's the most demanding control ever applied to the timber trade — and a direction we find right.

At Maison Miraku, those three acronyms are not a marketing point but a condition of existence: our pieces come from an SVLK-certified chain, shipped under FLEGT licences, in line with the EUDR. When you choose tropical wood furniture, ask for the acronyms — not the adjectives.