The Global Forest Registry team is compiling lists of laws applying to timber harvesting and trade in many of the world’s countries. Applicable legislation is crucial for risk assessments, which companies need to conduct in order to comply with the EUTR and with the FSC Controlled Wood system.
The Global Forest Registry, a free online tool for legal and responsible timber sourcing,now offers additional information for companies that need to comply with either the EUTR or the FSC Controlled Wood requirements.
Support to meeting the EUTR
In order to comply with the EUTR, importers of timber products into the EU need to assess the risk of violation of laws applicable to forest harvesting and trade in the country of origin.
These laws cover not only the right to harvest, but also a host of other laws pertaining to timber harvesting and trade.
These include e.g. health and safety regulations and laws pertaining to environmental protection, tax payments and offshore pricing.
“The challenge for EU companies is to maintain an overview of all these regulations for each country that they are sourcing from”, explains Christian Sloth, NEPCon Forest Legality Programme Manager. “Our aim is to develop and maintain robust lists of applicable legislation. This will facilitate buyers to conduct risk assessments and ensure EUTR compliance”.
Preliminary lists
The registry has recently been updated to include preliminary lists of applicable legislation pertaining to legal harvesting in 76 countries.
The lists are based on information extracted from available sources such as nationally endorsed and interim FSC forest management standards, FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs), and others.
Sources are provided for each draft list. “The lists are incomplete at this point”, says Mr Sloth. “For example, most of the trade-related legislation is still missing for each country. We are seeking additional sources of information to complete the lists. Meanwhile, we hope that these preliminary compilations will be helpful for buyers”.
FSC Controlled Wood requirements aligned with the EUTR
The Global Forest Registry was primarily established to support FSC certificate holders sourcing Controlled Wood and conducting related risk assessments. Due to the recent process of aligning the FSC Controlled Wood system with the EUTR, applicable legislation in the country of harvest is now vital for Controlled Wood risk assessments
The draft lists of applicable legislation were developed concurrently with the consultation process for draft FSC procedures for Controlled Wood National Risk assessments (FSC-PRO-60-002 V2-0 EN).
The process and requirements for risk determination are described in the addendum “FSC National Risk Assessment Framework” (FSC-PRO-60-002b V1-0 EN). The addendum requires risk determination covering Controlled Wood Category 1 (illegal harvesting) to be based on applicable legislation in the country of origin. The draft lists of applicable legislation are developed based on the procedures described in this addendum.
The lists are meant as an aid for timber sourcing organisations in the interim period until the respective National Risk Assessments become available. In time, the completed national risk assessments will replace these draft lists in the Global Forest Registry.
Further information on the consultation of the National Risk Assessment development is available here.
About the Global Forest Registry
The Global Forest Registry supports FSC certified companies sourcing FSC Controlled Wood (CW) and other buyers seeking to avoid controversial timber. The registry covers risk assessments for all five CW categories of unacceptable timber.
Since the first CW category is illegal timber harvesting, and since the CW system is aligned with the EUTR, the Registry is a useful tool for buyers who need to comply with the EUTR and other timber regulations.
The Registry is jointly developed and maintained by NEPCon and FSC International Center.