The European Union is proposing a collaborative scheme with the Indonesian government to allow its members to inspect wood-based imports from Indonesia, such as plywood and wood panels, as part of the EU's efforts to help the country curb illegal logging.

"We hope that we can arrive at an agreement on the matter with the Indonesian government by the end of this year or early next year," the EU's natural resources program manager for Indonesia, Vernon Copeland, told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a workshop on illegal logging organized by the Forestry Ministry on Wednesday.

Forestry Minister Malam Sambat Kaban, in a speech to the workshop, urged the European Union to bar its members from importing illegally felled timber.

"We're asking the European countries not to serve as markets for the illegal loggers," he said.

The scheme, Vernon said, is part of an EU action plan on forestry law enforcement and trade, which is designed to prevent the entry of panels or plywood sourced from illegal logging.

Under the scheme, Indonesia will be required to issue documents providing evidence of the legality of the exported panels.

The customs and excise services of the individual EU members would then inspect the documents and confiscate any panels found to be illegal.

"The agreement will be binding on all members of the EU. They have to comply with and abide by it," Vernon told the Post.

However, he said the scheme would be applied on a voluntary basis, and that no sanctions would be imposed against member states that allowed the entry of illegal logs.

"We will leave it up to the individual members of the EU to decide whether or not they will impose sanctions on companies that import plywood made from illegal logs," he said, adding that Indonesia's share of the European panel imports market was less than 10 percent.

The EU has been supporting the government's effort to eradicate illegal logging for the last three years.

The European Commission has disbursed about 1 million euros in grant to fund the operation of the Illegal Logging Response Centers.

ILRCs have been established in the Bukit Barisan National Park in Tanggamus regency, Lampung, the Gunung Palung National Park in Kayong Utara regency, West Kalimantan, and the Tanjung Puting National Park in Kotawaringin and Seruyan regencies, Central Kalimantan.

In March, the commission is due to disburse another 15 million euros for the EC-Indonesia Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (EC-FLEGT) support project.

The state suffers annual losses of about Rp 30 trillion due to illegal logging, while deforestation now affects some 2.8 million hectares.

The minister also said that he hoped illegal logging could be fully eradicated this year.