EU Timber Regulation update from the UK Government

What is the EU Timber Regulation?

• The EU timber regulation places a prohibition on the “first placing” of illegally harvested timber antimber products onto the EU market. 
• The regulation places an obligation on operators - those placing timber and timber products onto the EU market for the first time - to exercise due diligence to mitigate the risk that this timber has been illegally harvested. Essentially, they must implement a due diligence system which:

1.    Provides information about the supply of timber products, a description of: species, country of harvest, quantity, name and address of supplier and trader and documents indicating compliance with the applicable legislation.

2.    Evaluates the risk of placing illegally harvested timber and timber products on the market. Criteria which can be used to assess this risk include:

•  assurance of compliance with applicable legislation, including certification schemes, third party verification.
• prevalence of illegal harvesting of specific tree species
• prevalence of illegal logging in the country of harvest
• UN or EU sanctions on timber imports or exports
• complexity of the supply chain

 3.    Unless the risk of illegality is negligible, takes steps to mitigate this risk; for example, providing additional information/ third party verification.

•  Those trading in timber and timber products within the EU must keep records of sale and purchase.
•  Operators can either set up their own due diligence systems, or make use of one provided by a Monitoring Organisation. Under the EUTR, private organisations can apply to the European Commission to become a monitoring organisation. This essentially means that they can set up a due diligence system which meets the requirements of the Regulation and grant operators the right to use this system. A Monitoring Organisation must also check that those using its due diligence system are doing so correctly, and should take appropriate action if an operator is failing to use its due diligence system properly.

Next Steps 

•  The Regulation was formally agreed in October 2010, and Member States will have two years to put in place appropriate implementation measures, including enforcement regimes, before the Regulation comes into force on 3^rd March 2013. 
• The Commission is now in the process of finalising secondary legislation to add detail to certain provisions of the Regulation; Defra are involved in these negotiations and have had excellent input from many key stakeholders. The secondary legislation will elaborate, among other details, on the procedure and criteria for becoming recognised as a Monitoring Organisation and on the criteria for conducting due diligence.
• Once this secondary legislation is finalised, Defra will draft a Statutory Instrument to implement the provisions of the EUTR in the UK. Defra will put in place a robust regime with dissuasive, effective and proportionate penalties.
• Defra will also appoint a Competent Authority which will have responsibility for enforcing the regulation. They will carry out checks on operators and Monitoring Organisations to ensure compliance, including examination of due diligence systems and on-site checks.

How do FLEGT licences fit in?

• The EU Timber Regulation provides a coherent approach to EU action to tackle illegal logging by specifically identifying FLEGT-licensed timber as fully meeting its requirements. This means that operators who purchase FLEGT-licensed timber don’t need to carry out any further due diligence. This also provides a strong incentive for timber exporting countries to enter into and implement VPAs.