EU illegal timber plan puts onus on traders

The UK Timber Trade Federation (TTF) is among those welcoming proposed new legislation from Brussels to stop illegal timber entering the EU.

The European Commission’s long-awaited recommendations put the onus on timber traders to prove they have exercised due diligence to ensure they are not handling illegally felled material.

The move is not the blanket ‘ban’ and criminalisation of importing illegal timber that many had expected. The Commission decided a law styled on the US Lacey Act, which prohibits illegal wood trade, would be a difficult task and would be a “burdensome, expensive and trade-disruptive system.”

TTF chief executive John White said The Federation favoured the introduction of a substantive law banning illegal wood.

“But we accept that the EU at the moment is not ready to go down the Lacey route, and we are backing the due diligence route as the alternative is nothing,” he said.

The TTF, he added, had been calling for some form of EU measure to block illegal timber for some time.

“The presence of any illegal timber in the market sends out the wrong signals to the consumer about the industry and creates unfair competition for legally sourced timber,” he said.

He added that TTF members have nothing to fear from the proposed regulations. “Having introduced the Responsible Purchasing Policy three years ago and made environmental due diligence a condition of TTF membership, they will be well ahead of the curve.”

The regulation, which needs approval by the European parliament, applies to operators placing timber and wood products for the first time on the EU market. Importers can formulate their own due diligence system or use an existing one, with costs expected to be “low”.

Criteria for assessing the risk of placing illegal timber on the market – what constitutes a low or high risk – still needs to be developed by the commission.

Environmental commissioner Stavros Dimas, who announced the proposals, said about 19% of EU timber imports were probably from illegal sources. He said a firm message must be sent to suppliers that illegal timber would not be tolerated on the EU market.

Enforcement is being left to individual EU members. “Member states should ensure that infringements of this regulation are punished by effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties,” the commission says.

“There are some voices from Britain [Barry Gardiner MP] calling for the EU to even impose prison penalties, which of course we cannot do, it’s up to the member states to do it,” added Mr Dimas.

Defra said it was “too early” for it to consider the issue of penalties, but said it welcomed the proposals.

“The due diligence option is of interest, and could be effective as excluding illegal timber from the market, as well as establishing a level playing field for timber products,” it said.