CPET activities

A great deal happened in June and July. Back in June we compiled the comparative study of the national criteria for ‘legal and ‘sustainable’ timber and assessment of certification schemes in Denmark, UK, Netherlands and Belgium. This was presented at a workshop on Green Public Procurement in Brussels, and now the study has been published on the CPET website here.

In the beginning of July CPET hosted a workshop where the four members of the technical panel convened and discussed their review of the CPET assessment of the certification schemes. The panel collated the findings in a report, which was then presented to the CPET Reference Board at meeting in end July. A few comments and questions are raised to the schemes. We will now await responses, before publishing the results of the 2008 assessment.

With the policy change coming up 1 April 2009, the UK Government's Timber Procurement Advice Note from November 2005 has now been updated and the August 2008 Advice Note is now available on the CPET website here. Thanks to everyone who contributed with comments during last year’s consultation.

Defra and CPET are planning workshops and training for the next 6 months: Information will be available on the CPET website here.

The Construction Sector Pilot Project has now been published. Again we would like to thank everyone who has been involved and contributed to the project, especially people from the public sector and the construction companies who shared their experience. Thanks also to the Technical Review Panel. The report is available for download here. Defra has already taken some actions based on the recommendations in the report and will use the report as a baseline for measuring the success of the current strategy. Read more here. A pilot to monitor and report on timber procurement will be launched by Defra and CPET in the coming months.