Page 273 - Invited Paper Session (IPS) - Volume 2

IPS243 Arvydas L.
d) Chief component material
e) Technology applied in the production process
f) Purpose or intended use

The variability of wood, paper and paperboard products does not allow to
use the same criterion on the same level in each Section of forest products.
The classification criteria were then structured according to their importance
for classification of particular Section of forest products. A new six-levels
coding system has been proposed to take into account all criteria.

4. Discussion and Conclusion
The new proposal of Forest Products Classification and Definitions (GSARS,
2016) has been published as a working paper in order to serve as a living
document, which is open for all relevant comments, suggestion and proposals.
It is designed to provide a comprehensive view on wood and paper
products which will be useful in relation to forestry and forest industry
production, industry capacity and trade. It does not attempt to lay down strict
definitions such as might be found in national standards or in trade and tariff
regulations, but it does aim to draw attention to the characteristics which
differentiate between items that are of practical importance in the different
areas of the sector's activities, and to indicate aggregate and subdivisions of
products and materials that have practical significance.
The new classification, in accordance with the previous classification (FAO
& UNECE, 1981), takes into account all parts of the tree, because each part of
the tree is potential raw material for forest products. Moreover, it takes into
account secondary wood and paper products. Regarding wood species origin,
the previous classification, compared the new one, does not distinguish non-
coniferous tropical wood origin. The new classification divides non-coniferous
wood species into two items (tropical nonconiferous, other non-coniferous)
by all sections and divisions where it is important for their classification (e.g.
06 Veneer sheets).
Very important and useful part of the new classification, as well as the
previous one, is the harmonization with the major international classification
by means of cross references, which are defined as indications of some degree
of coincidence between the two classifications, not of a one-toone
correspondence. The selected international classification systems are HS 2012,
HS 2017, SITC Rev.4, CPC Ver.2.1, ISIC Rev.4. Moreover, correspondences with
Joint Forest Section Questionnaire (JFSQ), which is used by IWG as a main tool
for forest products statistics data collection on the international level, were
added. As a results, the new classification in connection with Guidelines on
data collection for national statistics on forest products (GSARS, 2018), can

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