The European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) does not give timber importers guidance needed to validate the legality documentation that comes from overseas suppliers, argued attendees at July meeting of the European Timber Trade Federation.
At the meeting, Andre de Boer, ETTF's secretary general, said a proposal is in the works to develop a public online database with information on legislation in all timber-supplying companies. The proposal would be submitted for possible funding as an International Tropical Timber Organization project.
The lack of resources combined with Greenpeace' latest claim that documents from Brazil do not meet EUTR requirements caused several large European importers to halt all purchases of Brazilian ipé.
More tropical wood may be excluded simply for lack of better information, which de Boer hopes to counteract with the database.
The EUTR is an EU-wide law that has been operational since March 2013. It is made of two main policies: Companies putting timber on the EU market must do due diligence to determine the legality of the timber. Companies are prohibited from placing illegally sourced timber or timber products on the EU market.
See HF’s Green Blog for more information on the EUTR and an interview with Andre de Boer, parts one, two and three.
