FLEGT

What is FLEGT?

FLEGT stands for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade. The EU FLEGT Action Plan sets out a programme of actions that forms the European Union’s response to the problem of illegal logging and the trade in associated timber products. FLEGT addresses illegal logging, links good governance in developing countries with the legal trade instruments and influence offered by the EU’s internal market. 

The Action Plan includes the following key components:

1. Support to Producer Countries
2. Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs)
3. Public Timber Procurement Policies
4. Private Sector Initiatives
5. Investment safeguards
6. Additional Options for legislation
7. Conflict timber

For further information please refer to the European Commission FLEGT Briefing sheets published at the illegal-logging.info website.

FLEGT and the UK Government's timber procurement policy

A key component of FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) is a licensing system between producer partner countries and the EU. The licensing system will prove that the timber exported from that country is legal and meet a number of other requirements. Once the licensing system is up and running, no export from the partner country to the EU will be permitted unless it is accompanied by a FLEGT licence.

From April 1 2009, the UK Government timber procurement policy demands, that all timber and wood-derived products must be from independently verifiable legal and sustainable sources or FLEGT-licensed timber only.

Currently there is no FLEGT-licensed timber available in the market and therefore further detailed guidance on requirements to FLEGT-licensed timber will follow from CPET as it becomes available.

For more information, see the European Commission FLEGT page.

For more detailed information on FLEGT, please see the TTF website.

 The Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade portal of the European Forest Institute is a website which has been developed to set out the different policies adopted by the European Commission and EU Member States under that plan, and chart progress towards achieving its aims.  It is managed by the EU FLEGT facility, which assists the European Commission and the EU member states in their joint effort to implement the FLEGT action plan.