Illegal logging
Application and implementation
The EU Member States were supposed to adopt the necessary legislative measures, by 2013, to designate competent authorities which were responsible for the application of Regulation 995/2010 and for instructing the customs, police and other authorities to align their structures to the requirements of the Regulation. They also had to adopt penalties for the infringement of Regulation 995/2010. The penalties had to be "effective, proportionate and dissuasive" and could include proportionate fines, seizure of the timber and the suspension of the authorisation to trade (Article 19).
By end of 2015, the necessary legislative steps had not yet all been taken by Greece, Hungary, Romania and Spain. This constitutes a problem, as timber, once it is on the EU market, may freely and without further controls circulate within all Member States. The controls of whether timber stems from legal or illegal logging only make sense when they are exercised in all Member States of the EU; otherwise a Member State which does not yet apply the control system set up by Regulation 995/2010 acts like the gatekeeper of an open door, through which illegally harvested timber may enter the EU internal market without control.
Source: 123RF Stock Photo. yellomello