The Commission considers that the Council’s position neither changes the approach nor the objectives of its proposal and therefore supports the position as it stands. The Commission accepted in full, in part or in principle 37 out of 75 amendments adopted by the European Parliament in its first reading. 17 of the European Parliament amendments have been taken into account in the position of the Council adopted in first reading by qualified majority.
Parliamentary amendments accepted by the Commission and incorporated in full, in part or in principle in the position of the Council relate to:
- paying particular attention to the impact of the Regulation on SMEs;
- adding several specific types of information (due diligence system);
- inserting a clause regarding conflict of interest in the requirements that monitoring organisations must satisfy;
- specifying how information containing the list of competent authorities responsible for the application of the regulation shall be made available to the public.
Parliamentary amendments rejected by the Commission and incorporated in full, in part or in principle in the position of the Council relate to:
- the scope of the Regulation: the amendments stipulate that timber and timber products subject to mandatory sustainability criteria should not be excluded from its application;
- a broadening of the definition of the legislation applicable;
- the recognition of monitoring organisations by the Commission;
- information on checks shall be made available.
Parliamentary amendments accepted in full, in part or in principle by the Commission but not incorporated in the position of the Council mainly concern the recitals. These referred to forest environment, biodiversity, forest ecosystems and sustainable forest management.
Parliamentary amendments rejected by the Commission and the Council and not incorporated in the position of the Council concern:
- the introduction of a prohibition on placing of illegally harvested timber and timber products on the market;
- the extension of the scope of the proposal to cover all operators in the supply chain and not only those placing timber and timber products on the market for the first time and the related notion of traceability;
- the inclusion of a requirement for labelling of origin of the timber products;
- most of amendments on requirements for monitoring organisations.
The changes introduced by the Council are consistent with the objective of minimizing the risk of placing illegally harvested timber and timber products on the market and build upon the Commission's proposal. Therefore the Commission can accept the position of the Council.