Strict penalties proposed for companies flouting the EU Timber Regulation

Penalties proposed in the UK regulations will mean that both traders and operators could be hit by heavy fines for failing to comply with the EU timber regulation, with imprisonment a possible course of action against operators disobeying the rules.

BWF attended a stakeholder meeting on Tuesday organised by Defra and the National Measurement Office (NMO). The aim of the meeting was to give industry and other interested parties such as environmental NGOs an opportunity to hear how the enforcement of the regulation is likely to work and to feed back any views into the current consultation.

The EUTR requires Member States to lay down penalties which are effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Under the UK proposals, traders who fail to maintain adequate records of timber product transactions could be subject to a fine of up to £5,000. The penalties for those that place illegal timber on the EU market or have an inadequate due diligence system could be a term of imprisonment of up to two years and/or an unlimited fine.

BWF Policy Executive Matt Mahony commented:

“The NMO has pledged to work with industry in order to ensure that the regulation is enforced, and government has laid down a set of firm but fair penalties to ensure that illegal timber is not placed on the market in the UK. BWF Members need to pay attention to the penalties for non compliance with the regulation, as well as ensuring that their timber and timber product suppliers are legitimate. This is because inspectors will have the powers to seize timber – from both traders and operators – which they reasonably believe to be illegally harvested and to either remove it or prevent its movement.”

The consultation document with the proposed plans for enforcement is available to download here: www.defra.gov.uk/consult/2012/12/27/timber-regs-2013/

With the Consultation due to close on 4th February 2013, we invite members to feedback any view on the enforcement proposals as soon as possible.

We have updated our ‘easy guide to the EU timber regulation’ to reflect the new developments, in addition to any recent issues that may have crept up, including the information that some companies are being asked to label products as ‘EUTR compliant’. This is incorrect as products do not comply with the EUTR, companies do. Any label stating a product is EUTR compliant is misleading and may be construed as misrepresentation.