Does the EU need to get tougher on illegal timber?

This week EU agriculture ministers at the Council of Europe (CoE) backed new rules to curb entry of illegal timber on the European market.

But the proposed legislation, which focuses on traders exercising due diligence  to minimise the risk of  illegal wood entering their supply chain, stops short of making it a punishable legal offence to trade in the material. This contrasts with the US, where, under the Lacey Act, companies that are found to be handling illegal material and proven not to have undertaken adequate risk assessment of their supply chain, can face fines or even gaol.

The UK was one of the countries that wanted  an outright ban on trading in illegal timber and wood products in the EU  and would not support the rules proposed at the CoE.  The UK Timber Trade Federation also supports some form of legal prohibition, as does Greenpeace and other NGOs.

So what is your view? Would you like to see  the EU impose a legal ban on trade in illegal wood, backed with heavy punitive sanctions, or do you think the measures supported by the CoE, which have been described as effectively amounting to a supply chain risk assessment code of practice for traders, are sufficient?