The Timber Traceability: A Diagnostic Tool for Practitioners and Policymakers provides practical guidance for governments and system designers developing, implementing and assessing government-owned timber traceability systems. The report introduces the key elements of timber traceability, including scope, identifiers, levels of traceability, reporting procedures, data management, monitoring and verification, and presents a framework with guiding questions to support system design and implementation. Drawing on existing experiences, including 11 timber traceability systems in seven Latin American countries, the guide highlights how well-designed traceability systems can support forest governance, improve monitoring of timber flows and strengthen efforts to demonstrate legality and sustainability. It also considers challenges such as limited resources, stakeholder capacity, institutional cooperation and private-sector participation, while emphasizing the importance of designing systems according to the specific needs and context of each country.