According to the European Timber Trade Federation (ETTF), the Spanish Timber Trade Association AEIM has produced a preliminary risk assessment report on sourcing from Brazil to support member’s implementation of the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR).
The risk assessment, which was presented to the association’s latest board of directors meeting, was commissioned from a ‘committee of experts’. It lists and analyses official documentation that must accompany Brazilian sawn timber products to satisfy AEIM’s compulsory EUTR-aligned due diligence system.
The report breaks Brazil into three areas; Pará, Matto Grosso and ‘other states’. Legality risk assessment documentation is covered along the supply chain, from forest to export.
Brazil is rated ‘very high risk’ on AEIM’s illegality risk assessment website www.maderalegal.info and the report is therefore seen as a key trading tool.
Brazil is Spain’s second biggest tropical timber supplier after Cameroon, on which AEIM commissioned a similar risk assessment and due diligence report last year. In 2016, Spain imported 10,312 m3 of Brazilian sawn lumber, worth €6.1m.
While addressing illegality risk, the AEIM report also highlights efforts being made by the Brazilian Environment Institute (IBAMA) to tackle illegal trade, and the development of Brazil’s National Control System for Forest Products Origin (SINAFLOR), its timber supply chain tracking database. The final AEIM report will be available soon.
In a separate report, AEIM note that a recent survey of members revealed that only 4% of all tropical timber imported into Spain is certified. AEIM is committed to raising this percentage to 12% by 2020.
