This paper explores the role, content and development of legality standards for verification in the forest sector. It discusses the key principles of standard setting and the questions these pose in terms of scope, content and process. The paper also highlights questions relating to the status of legality standards in standing for applicable laws and regulations, as well as to issuances of certificates of compliance. The paper draws on VERIFOR case studies of forest sector verification, as well as discussions at the VERIFOR Experts Meeting (Palma de Mallorca 27 – 28 April 2006).