Consultation: We need your comments!

As most will know in March 2007, the Government announced a revision to the UK Government’s timber procurement policy, as part of its Sustainable Procurement Action Plan:

From 1 April 2009 only timber and timber products originating either from independently verified legal and sustainable sources or from a licensed Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) partner will be demanded for use on the Government estate - appropriate documentation will be required to prove it. From 1 April 2015, only legal and sustainable timber would be demanded;

Clearly this is going to have an impact on traders and suppliers.  Here are some of the issues identified by stakeholders at the consultation launch… have your say!

• Implementation; let us know your experiences with government contracts what more can be done?
• Do we need greater policing of government projects using timber?
• Complexity of Chain of Custody practices for merchant and timber traders; suggestions for addressing these?
• Eclusion of legality verification schemes and transition/stepwise certification programmes – how can we incorporate these and what is the impact of excluding them? Could changing the definition of sustainable sources to encompass transition/stepwise programmes be appropriate?
• Small forest owners; proving legality and sustainability without the need for certification, what can be done?

Consultation process: ends 27^th September 

 Written submissions to CPET during the 12 week consultation period (details available http://proforest.test.textmatters.com/cpet/resolveuid/7ed891a4cc985e45422c02124296bede).

These comments will be considered as part of the development of recommendations for practical implementation.