EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan

The EU Action Plan for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) is the European Union’s response to the global problem of illegal logging and the international trade in illegally-harvested timber. 

In the UK, Defra and DFID, together with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, work jointly on this issue.

• Background
• What is FLEGT?
• Voluntary Partnership Agreements
• Consultation
• Additional legislative options
• UK Presidency
• Key Dates during the UK Presidency

Background

Illegal logging is the harvesting of timber in contravention of a country’s laws. Together with the associated international trade in illegally-harvested wood products, it causes environmental damage, costs governments billions of dollars in lost revenue, and is closely associated with corruption and organised crime. It also undermines the competitiveness of legitimate forest operations in both exporting and importing countries.

As the world’s fourth biggest net wood product importer, the UK recognises that it can play an important role in influencing timber markets. However, by itself, the UK’s timber consumption is insufficient to result in changes in demand patterns that would significantly reduce the volume of illegally harvested timber entering world trade. Also, because of its membership of the European single market, the UK alone cannot enact legislation that would stop imports of illegal timber. Co-operation with other EU Member States is therefore needed. 

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What is FLEGT? 

The Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan was adopted by the European Commission in May 2003 as part of the EU’s response to the call for action at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Council Conclusions were adopted in October 2003 and the European Parliament passed a motion of support in January 2004. 

The Action Plan sets out a new and innovative approach to tackling illegal logging, linking good governance in developing countries with the legal trade instruments and leverage offered by the EU’s internal market. 

The Action Plan describes a package of measures, including:

• support for improved governance and capacity building in timber producing countries
• encouraging the private sector to adopt purchasing policies to exclude illegal timber from their supply chains
• promotion of public procurement policies
• encouraging measures to avoid investment in activities that encourage illegal logging
• support to governments who want to ensure that illegally-harvested timber from their territory is not admitted to the EU market.

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Voluntary Partnership Agreements

At the core of the Action Plan are Voluntary Partnership Agreements with timber-producing countries that wish to eliminate illegal timber from their trade with the EU. These agreements will involve establishment of a licensing scheme to ensure that only legal timber from producing countries (“Partner Countries”) is allowed into the EU. Unlicensed consignments from Partner Countries would be denied access to the European market under the scheme. 

The agreements are voluntary. This means that Partner Countries can decide whether or not to sign up, although once they do so the licensing scheme is obligatory.

Currently there is no law to prevent illegally-logged wood products from being imported into the EU. A new EU regulation is therefore required to empower Member States’ customs authorities to enforce this scheme. 

Proposals for a regulation and a mandate that would authorise the European Commission to negotiate agreements with potential partner countries are currently being finalised.

Each Voluntary Partnership Agreement will require a definition of “legally-produced timber” and the means to verify that wood products destined for the EU have been produced in line with the requirements of this definition. Both the definition of legality and the verification system should be appropriate to circumstances in the Partner Country. Details of these will be negotiated between each Partner Country and the EU. Where needed, EU development assistance will be provided to help establish licensing schemes. 

Member States are engaged in preliminary discussions leading to negotiations with potential partner countries. Most recently the UK has been involved in initial consultations with Ghana and Malaysia. 

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Additional legislative options

The Regulation and Partnership Agreements will not deal directly with trade with non-Partner Countries. To further support the Action Plan, several Member States are examining additional options. These might include making use of existing legislation, or possible new legislation that could be enacted either at Member State or the EU level. 

Chatham House (the Royal Institute of International Affairs) is co-ordinating this work as well as undertaking a study of potential UK legislation. 

More information on the EU Action Plan, including links to key documents, is available on the following websites:

• Chatham House Illegal Logging Website - FLEGT
• European Commission - FLEGT

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UK Presidency

The UK holds the UK Presidency from July 1 to December 31 2005. Good progress has been made during both the Presidencies of both the Netherlands and Luxembourg, which have preceded the UK. The Government expects to build on this during the UK’s Presidency. During the next six months we hope to:

• reach agreement on the Regulation and the negotiating Mandate 
• make significant progress on developing bilateral Partnership Agreements

Key Dates during the UK Presidency