‘Standards and Quality Criteria for Wood Products’
Annex 1 on Sawn Timber Revised
The National Institute of Forest Science (Director Bae Jae-soo) under the Korea Forest Service announced that it has revised part of the ‘Standards and Quality Criteria for Wood Products’ and published it in the Official Gazette.
This revision substantially amended the contents of Annex 1, which applies to sawn timber—one of the 15 wood products addressed in the Standards and Quality Criteria for Wood Products. The key revisions are as follows.
First, whereas grade inspection of sawn timber had previously been conducted through full inspection of all products, sampling inspection is now permitted in the case of general-use timber. In addition, methods other than the oven-dry weight method are now permitted for inspecting the moisture content of sawn timber; once the suitability of a moisture meter has been verified by the Korea Forestry Promotion Institute—the agency that designates self-inspection plants—a grade evaluator may inspect moisture content using the moisture meter. The oven-dry weight method is a method in which a test specimen is dried in a dryer at 100–105℃ and its weight is measured once it reaches the target moisture content.
For sawn timber used as green wood, the moisture content standard has been deleted, allowing moisture content inspection to be omitted. Furthermore, when the same species is supplied for the same use by agreement between the delivering and receiving parties, quality labeling may now be applied to the minimum distribution unit bundle.
The full text of the revised ‘Standards and Quality Criteria for Wood Products’ can be found on the Korea Forest Service website (www.forest.go.kr) or on the website of the National Law Information Center of the Ministry of Government Legislation (www.law.go.kr).
Bae Jae-soo, Director of the National Institute of Forest Science, said, “The National Institute of Forest Science is improving the quality standards for wood products based on scientific evidence, for the safety of the public and the revitalization of the industry,” adding, “This revision eases the quality inspection methods and standards for sawn timber, which will significantly reduce the burden on businesses that produce and distribute sawn timber.”