Support to the implementation of the EU Timber Regulation.

closed

The European Union's policy to fight illegal logging and associated trade was defined back in 2003 with the forest law enforcement governance and trade (FLEGT) action plan. It proposed a package of measures to support international effort to tackle the problem. In implementing the action plan the EU has been negotiating voluntary partnership agreements (VPAs) with timber-producing countries (partner countries), which put a legally binding obligation on the parties to implement a licensing scheme and to regulate trade in timber and timber products identified in the agreements.Given the major scale and urgency of the problem, it was necessary to complement and reinforce the FLEGT action plan with additional measures and for that reason Regulation (EU) No 995/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20.10.2010 laying down the obligations of operators who place timber and timber products on the market (the EU Timber Regulation; the EUTR) was adopted and entered into force on 2.12.2010:http://ec.europa.eu/environment/forests/timber_regulation.htmThe Regulation covers a wide range of timber products listed in its annex using EU customs' code nomenclature. It became applicable from 3.3.2013 to allow time for EU operators, timber producers and Member States, as well as trading partners, to be prepared. By June 2012 the Commission adopted necessary non-legislative acts: the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 363/2012, and the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 607/2012. In 2013 the Commission elaborated, in close collaboration with the Member States, a guidance document on the EUTR, where specific aspects of the Regulation were clarified.Although the Regulations are directly binding throughout the EU, Member States are required to take certain specific measures and are responsible for their day-to-day implementation and enforcement.The purpose of the contract is to:1. provide support to the European Commission in assessing applications for monitoring organisations;2. provide support to the European Commission in monitoring the implementation and enforcement of the EUTR, as detailed above;3. provide input to the European Commission, in relation to point 1 and 2 above, for use in the review of the Regulation scheduled for 2015.