The European Timber Trade Association (FEBO) gave an update of its latest actions to combat illegal logging at the recent industry information meeting held by FLEGT, the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade organisation.
FEBO has adopted a new article to its constitution – “FEBO supports sustainable forestry and condemns illegal logging and related trade. FEBO recognises that independent certification of sustainable forest management and of the product chain is the most feasible tool in proving sustainable forest management”.
At the same time it has adopted an environmental code of conduct requiring members to commit to sourcing timber and timber products from legal and well-managed forests and condemn illegal logging practices and the related trade.
Members are also requested to recognise that the credible independent certification of sustainable forest management and chain of custody is the most useful tool in providing assurances that the timber they deal in comes from legal and well managed forests.
And if there are any doubts about the origin of timber, members are asked to examine its credentials.
FEBO is also calling for a common position among EU governments about which certification schemes they are willing to accept – or what they will accept if there is no certified timber available. A FEBO spokesperson said that at present all EU countries were doing their own thing which made it difficult to inform suppliers what the requirements were.
