Illegal logging

The EU timber industry had, at the beginning of FLEGT, opposed further legislative measures and rather favoured voluntary measures such as certification or codes of conduct. Only when it transpired that such measures were inefficient to stop imports of illegally logged timber did the private timber sector accept and even favoured further binding legislation. This legislation was proposed in 2008 and adopted in 2010 as Regulation 995/2010 (see also Commission Delegated Regulation 363/2012). The Regulation was based on the environmental provisions of Article 192 TFEU; it became applicable as of March 2013. It covered timber and timber products, including wooden furniture; most other finished wooden products were not covered.

Regulation 995/2010 created a prohibition to import illegally harvested timber into the EU: "The placing on the market of illegally harvested timber or timber products derived from such products shall be prohibited" (Article 4). This prohibition did not only apply to countries with which voluntary partnership agreements had been concluded, but to all countries in the world. Timber and timber products which come under Regulation 995/2010 and which originate in partner countries with which a voluntary partnership agreement had been concluded, and which comply with that Regulation "shall be considered to have been legally harvested" (Article 3). Indeed, for such timber and timber products, there exists a FLEGT-licence which certifies the legality of the harvesting. At the same time, Article 3 gives an incitement to third countries to conclude a voluntary partnership agreement under Regulation 2173/2005 with the EU and to set up a FLEGT licencing scheme.

A similar solution was adopted for timber and timber products which were protected under Regulation 338/97 on trade in endangered species. For timber which comes under Annexes A, B or C of that Regulation, a CITES export permit or export certificate is required, and the timber may not be imported into the EU without such a document. Consequently, Article 3(2) of Regulation 995/2010 provides that "(T)imber of species listed in Annex A, B or C to Regulation 338/97 and which complies with that Regulation and its implementing provisions shall be considered to have been legally harvested for the purposes of this Regulation".