The European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) has been long considered to be ineffective. The regulation is starting to have effect even though in Finland penalties haven’t been required yet, according to a Finnish Forest Association report.
The EUTR came into force in March 2013 and it’s also valid for timber logged from countries in the EU. In March 2016, the Dutch authorities have first imposed penalty on an importer who brought illegally logged timber from West Africa (Cameroon). But, because of the company that bought the timber that didn’t rectify the diligence procedure, it now must pay a non-compliance penalty.
Especially the due diligence system has to ensure the legality of the timber trade in the European Union and the companies that import timber must possess clear information about the imported timber and the parties involved in the trade.
Mr. Tatu Torniainen, an expert at the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, stated that a forest certification may reduce the risks regarding the origin and supply of the timber chain. In Finland, the regulation applied to 2.500 companies.
“In Finland, the aim is to increase companies’ awareness of their obligations by providing advice and information,” Torniainen said.
Following various inspections, the Agency for Rural Affairs in Finland asked companies to amend their due diligence system, but penalties haven’t been required for Finland yet. In most of the cases, the reason for checking the system of some companies was just for incomplete information regarding wood chips, the import origin of which is very hard to track.
The EUTR applies for the sale of timber inside the EU too, in which case forest owners would be responsible. In fact, the legality of the timber in such a case can be verified in the notification of forest use. But the Finnish forest industry had already developed systems to monitor the legality of the timber long before the EUTR got into action.
The first evaluation published by the EU Commission showed that the member states should improve the implementation of the EUTR and the procedures for ensuring compliance. In countries such as Romania, Hungary, Greece or Spain, the EUTR hasn’t been implemented at all.
[gravityform id="1" title="true" description="true"]
[gravityform id="2" title="true" description="true"]
