News

The Timber Research and Development Association (TRADA), has issued a new briefing summarising the requirements and implications of new EU regulations, which come into force in 2013, to help combat the trade in illegal timber.

The regulation applies to a wide range of timber and timber-based products, including furniture and prefabricated buildings, produced both within the EU and from outside. EU states will impose penalties including fines and potentially custodial sentences on those do not follow the legislation.

 Any company buying or selling timber in the UK needs to understand its position with regard to the rules and the briefing sets out example scenarios to assist them as well as defining and explaining some of the systems of enforcement to be used.

 It lays down the obligations of companies who place timber and timber products on the market and sets out obligations on different types of traders.

Those who ‘first place' timber products onto the EU markets are required to carry out a ‘due diligence' process to minimise the risk of these products being sourced from illegal operations.