LONDON: The TTF has welcomed impending EU legislation to ban illegal timber entering the EU market. Currently it is not against the law to sell timber in the EU that was chopped down illegally in its country of origin.

Representatives of Commission, Council and Parliament have agreed the text for the EU Due Diligence Regulation. This will require all first placers of timber products to conduct a due diligence process (recycled products are exempt). Other actors within the supply chain will only need to know who they have bought or sold to so that if there is a case of allegedly illegal timber, the first placer can be identified.

The final vote in the European Parliament will be on the 6 of July, but this is unlikely to change the outcome. After this, member states will be given 27 months to implement the agreement in their national laws.