This report reviews, on the basis of Member States'
reports, the main results of the evaluation of Regulation
EU/995/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20
October 2010 laying down the obligations of operators who place
timber and timber products on the market (the EU Timber
Regulation).
To recall, the EU Timber Regulation:
- prohibits the placing on the EU market of illegally
harvested timber and products derived from such timber;
- requires operators who place timber products on the EU
market for the first time to exercise ‘due
diligence’;
- requires traders in timber and timber products after
the first placement on the market to keep records of their
suppliers and customers.
The Regulation covers a wide range of timber products
listed in its Annex.
It outlines the due diligence obligation and requests
that operators develop and apply a due diligence system or use the
system of a monitoring organisation. Adopted in December 2010, the
Regulation only entered into application on 3 March
2013.
The evaluation of the Regulation started in April 2015
and covers the period March 2013 to March 2015.
Implementation and application of the
Regulation: the report states that
this was slow and uneven during the first two years and
still remains incomplete. Recently, significant progress has been
made, even if at the time of the evaluation not all Member States
have fulfilled all their obligations under the Regulation. The
Commission started legal action against four non-compliant Member
States in the course of 2015 (Hungary, Greece, Spain,
Romania).
Whilst evidence shows that operators are gradually
taking up the due diligence obligation, the uneven
implementation and patchy enforcement during the first two years of
application did not facilitate the establishment of a level playing
field, which would protect operators from unfair competition of
products made of illegally logged timber.
Furthermore, given that the evaluation of the EU
Timber Regulation took place only two years after the Regulation
entered into application, the evaluation could not quantify the
impact of the Regulation on the trade in illegal timber and timber
products on the internal market. This made it challenging to
determine whether theRegulation
had met its objective of preventing
illegal timber and timber products from being placed on the
market.
Main results of the evaluation: the Commission states that the Regulation is
generally perceived as an important legislative instrument
to combat and reduce illegal logging and trade in illegal timber
and timber products. The Regulation has inspired other consumer
countries to develop similar legislative acts.
In addition, the EU Timber Regulation:
- has encouraged more responsible sourcing
policies and, therefore, demonstrated
its potential to change operators' market behaviour and establish
supply chains free of illegally harvested timber, thus contributing
to the achievement of the overall objectives of the FLEGT action
plan, the EU policy instrument to combat the illegal logging in the
world's forests;
- has raised awareness of the problem of illegal
logging and its impacts on the
environment and climate amongst the industry and amongst consumers.
It influenced amendments strengthening the EU Wildlife Trade
Regulations;
- allows the Union and its Member States to take full
advantage of their combined market leverage to ensure demand for
legally-harvested timber and avoid distortions of the EU
market, which would have occurred if varying rules had been put
in place by individual Member States;
- introduces an additional control layer
applicable to all operators across the EU: without the EU Timber
Regulation, the progress achieved on other elements of the FLEGT
action plan, such as the Voluntary Partnership Agreements
(VPAs), as well as the possibility for the EU to make commitments
to combat illegal logging in recent bilateral trade agreements,
would be seriously undermined.
Specific points in review:
- Administrative consequences for
SMEs: the due diligence
obligation of the Regulation applies to all companies, whatever
their size. SMEs may seem to be in a disadvantaged position due to
their low economies of scale as the costs of the due diligence
system need to be covered by a lower turnover. However, there
are no clear indications that being a smaller business is a barrier
to apply an effective due diligence system. Evidence shows that
the compliance costs for SMEs might be reduced if companies apply
cost-effective practices
- Product coverage:
some stakeholders consider it incomplete and suggest expanding it
to musical instruments, coffins, chairs, and/or printed paper,
while others consider that the product scope should not be expanded
until the Regulation is applied uniformly across the EU. The
Commission may consider expanding the product scope, subject
to an impact assessment of options.
- Effectiveness of the prohibition on placing on the
market: Member States have not
reported any closed investigation cases for violation of the
prohibition obligation. Due to the limited time and given the
insufficient experience with the enforcement of the prohibition,
no conclusion could be drawn with regard to its
effectiveness due to the absence of experience with its
enforcement.
- Implementation of the due diligence
system: although difficult to
understand and apply, this obligation appears to have some
impact on the practices of operators, who are demanding more
information and assurances of compliance from their
suppliers.
Recommendations and next steps: in order to address the shortcomings identified, the
Commission recommends that Member States:
- significantly step up their implementation and
enforcement efforts;
- strengthen the current level of technical capacity and
resources (both human and financial) allocated to the competent
authorities with the aim of increasing the number and quality of
compliance checks;
- make additional efforts to inform operators,
especially SMEs, about the requirements of the EU Timber
Regulation, and promote cost-effective practices to implement due
diligence.
The Commission will continue to:
- provide guidance to
Member States and operators by supplementing the Timber Regulation
guidance document, where necessary, with a view to achieving a
uniform application of the Regulation across the EU;
- facilitate communication and harmonisation
of enforcement approaches between competent
authorities at expert group meetings.
The Commission does not consider it necessary to
propose amendments of the substantive provisions of the Regulation. However, it may consider expanding
the product scope, set out in the Annex of the EU Timber
Regulation, through a delegated act subject to an impact
assessment of options.