UK Timber Trade Federation requires panels to be species tested
The UK Timber Trade Federation decided in March 2017 to make it mandatory for all their members to get wooden panels from outside the EU independently tested to verify what species they are made from as well as verify their quality.
The decision was a unanimous decision of the Federation’s National Panel Products Division.
The Timber Trade Federation said that their new rules come as a result of concerns about imports of Chinese hardwood plywood into the UK.
In 2015, the UK Competent Authority published an investigation into plywood imports from China. They found that nine out of 13 plywood samples they tested did not match the species that the UK companies’ declarations.
Last month, NEPCon published a guide to the laboratory techniques that can be used to determine the species and geographical origin of timber.
