1 WOOD- BASED SECTOR I N BRUNEI DARUSSALAM: Use of Standards and
Technical Regulations
Overview of Wood-Based I ndustries
¾
B
runei Darussalam is not yet self-sufficient in the supply of round timber asa raw material to support large-scale local wood-based industry. A previous
study shows that about half of the local requirement for sawntimber, and for
some wood panels and furniture products are sourced from outside
especially Malaysia, Thailand, I ndonesia, China and Europe (furniture). Thus,
all imported wood-based products should meet relevant standards to ensure
that all these products will meet desired quality requirements and serve
consumers’ need.
¾ I n view of limited raw material to support large-scale local wood-based
industry, there is only small development of this industry except for logging
and sawmilling industry which have a very limited capacity of production that
is 100,000 cu.m annual production round timber. More importantly, due to
lucrative market for sawntimber, very few companies invest on the
downstream processing to produce value-added products.
¾ The rapid development of the country and the need for the high level safety
in constructions industry require certain standards of timber building material
to be used to ensure the best timber performance in the construction work is
practiced. As wood-based product is one of the major components in the
structure of the buildings or any constructions, imposing the standards and
technical regulations is of paramount importance. The requirement for
certain standards of wood-based products has been initiated by the Ministry
of Development through Construction Planning and Research Unit (CPRU)
with the cooperation of the Forestry Department, Ministry of I ndustry and
2
Latest I nformation from All Related I nstitutions in Regard to Standards
and Conformity Assessment
¾ The existing standards specific for wood-based products were prepared by
the Technical Committee on Timber under the authority of the Standards
Committee, Ministry of Development. The committee comprises of experts
from the government, private sectors (major consumers) include e.g.
Twinwood Kilndry Treatment I ndustries and higher institutions/ technical
school that is Forestry Department, Ministry of Development, Housing
Development Department, Public Work Department, Brunei Shell Petroleum
Co. Sdn. Bhd., University of Brunei Darussalam, Sultan Saiful Rijal Technical
College, and engineering, structural and architectural Consultants.
¾ At present, the standards are all on voluntary basis except for sawntimber
importation and certain timber specifications that include GS3 (General
specifications for carpentry and joinery as one of the standards used in Public
Works Department) to be used in the construction other than scaffolding
such as species, moisture and chemical treatment content. The Forestry
Department is responsible for testing and ensuring these requirements are
met before using the timber in the timber constructions.
Development of Standards and Technical Regulation
¾ To support the producers of local sawntimber, the Forestry Department has
introduced a mechanism to support the market of local sawntimber. I t’s an
administrative requirement that the importers are required to buy locally
produced sawntimber amounting to 50% of the total imported volume.
¾ With the help of various agencies concerned, the Technical Committee on
Timber continues to produce standards and timber design guidelines with
special attention to the timber to be used for construction purposes such as
3 ¾ With regard to the development of wood-based products standards, Brunei
Darussalam will consider and adopt appropriate international standards such
as produced by I SO to complement the existing local standards and
