How is the European Union Timber Regulation Impacting Industry Due Diligence and Sourcing Practices?
By Marigold Norman View PublicationThe European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) came into force in 2013 with the aim to tackle illegal logging and associated trade, by prohibiting the placement of illegally sourced timber on the European Union (EU) market. Eight years later, the European Commission is undertaking a Fitness Check of the EUTR, including a review of how the regulation is working and the impact it has had, with results expected to be published by the end of March 2021.
This paper provides new data that can feed into the EC Fitness Check, as it assesses the extent to which industry sourcing practices and Due Diligence have evolved in response to the EUTR. Forest Trends and Preferred by Nature conducted detailed interviews with seventy-two EUTR Operators across five EU Member States and the United Kingdom in 2020. The survey focused on industry experiences importing timber and furniture products between 2012 and 2019. The paper sheds further light on the types of changes that Operators have made and the specific impacts of the EUTR requirements/implementation on industry.