WCN blog
Does the EU need to get tougher on illegal timber?
January 14, 2010
By Editor
By Mike Jeffree editor of Timber Trade Journal
Proposed EU legislation will not make the trade of illegal timber a criminal offence. Late last year, 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?
Posted by Editor on January 14, 2010 3:50 PM
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