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3.11. (...) since September 2010, Gabon has been negotiating a voluntary partnership agreement (VPA) with the EU. This participatory process, which aims to eradicate illegal logging, is the concrete outcome of a long phase of information and preparation, initiated in 2007, concerning the Action Plan for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT).

3.21. The rates of excise duty applied in Gabon are as follows: (...) second hand cars (22%); (...)

4.13. Forestry taxes:
• In terms of the surface area tax, the reform aims for greater simplification with the establishment of a single tax, regardless of the nature or degree of forestry development. To that effect, the new Article 316 of the General Tax Code (LF 2013) extends the scope of the tax to holders of permits by private agreement. Article 318 of the new Code has simplified and harmonized surface area tax rates. Under this law, the surface area tax has a single rate of CFAF 400 per hectare, whether or not the concession has been developed or is temporarily closed to development.

4.16. Tax assessment and tax collection operations, as well as the revenue generated by these taxes, are unpredictable. This chiefly concerns:
• the renewal tax: payable upon concession renewal by the holder of an Associated Forestry Permit (PFA) or of a Sustainable Forest Concession (CFAD) at the rate of CFAF 300 per hectare;
(...)

4.25. From 2019 to 2022, Gabon had 915 standards in force, of which 28 were mandatory and 884 voluntary. These standards were drawn up by the relevant technical committees: (...); 23 standards relating to tourism and related activities; (...); 26 standards in the field of forestry and timber; 63 standards pertaining to sustainable development; (...)

5.1. (...) Forestry operations in Gabon, as in other Central African countries, apply selective felling practices, leaving undeveloped most of the forest's wood resources (between 200 and 300 species), the value of which remains largely unknown (...)

5.2. Since 1 January 2010, the Gabonese Government has banned the export of rough wood. This decision prompted an urgent need to redefine the industry's strategy. In general terms, this reorientation applies to all the wood industries of tropical forests, given climate change and the need to protect these forests. The question involves reconciling two different, but related, issues: (i) protection of tropical forests' function as carbon sinks; and (ii) the right of a country and of its people to exploit their forest resources and, more specifically, to exploit and export tropical wood to international wood and construction material markets.

[The question involves reconciling two different, but related, issues: (i) protection of tropical forests' function as carbon sinks; and (ii) the right of a country and of its people to exploit their forest resources and, more specifically, to exploit and export tropical wood to international wood and construction material markets.]
5.3. Reconciliation of these two issues is possible only if the exploitation of Gabon's forest heritage is optimally organized, in compliance with the principles of sustainable and effective management, to combat massive deforestation practices, forest degradation and illegal trade in wood, wildlife, and other non timber forest products (NTFPs).

5.4. The overall objective which Gabon seeks to meet by 2016 through the Ministry of Water and Forestry is to increase the sector's contribution to GDP by means of sustainable management of forests and aquatic ecosystems; more intensive industrialization of the wood subsector; conservation and promotion of biodiversity; sectoral capacity building; and research and development training.

5.5. The intent (...) is "to make Gabon a world leader in certified tropical wood, driven by an industry which fully develops the resource and exploits a sustainably managed forest that fully plays its role as a carbon sink and a sanctuary of biodiversity in the service of humanity".