Germany

In January 2007, the German Federal Government issued a Joint instruction on the procurement of wood products. The 2007 instruction was revised in 2010 and a new one issued in January 2011. 

The Federal Government supports the certification of sustainably managed forests and will use only wood from certified stands in its procurement measures.

In addition to the above-mentioned awarding and contracting codes, the following must be complied with when procuring wood products:

Wood products procured by the federal administration must demonstrably come from legal and sustainable forest management. The bidder must furnish proof of this by presenting an FSC or PEFC certificate, a comparable certificate or by producing individual specifications. Comparable certificates or individual specifications are accepted if the bidder can prove that the FSC or PEFC criteria that apply to the respective country of origin have been met.

This instruction came into force on 17 January 2011.

It should be noted, however, that the consideration/acceptance of VPA licensed timber and wood products will not be decided until March 2013, the final enforcement of the EU-Timber Regulation.

The policy documents can be downloaded from the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection website, as linked below.

Joint instruction on the procurement of wood products  (in English)

Contact information

Mr. Torsten Hinrichs or Mr. Thomas Huber

Federal Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection.

Email: 534@bmelv.bund.de

Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information on existing national timber procurement policies, we recommend checking with the national procurement policy contacts for the most up to date information.