EC emphasises commitment to enforce EU Timber Regulation

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In an article in the European Timber Trade Federation (ETTF) newsletter, the EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik re-emphasised the Europe's strong commitment to the EUTR and determination to ensure effective enforcement across the continent.

Mr Potocnik observes that while EUTR has been fully applicable since March 2013, a scoreboard recently published by the European Commission, shows significant outstanding compliance gaps.

While all but one Member State have designated competent authorities to coordinate enforcement of the Regulation, nine Member States have as of yet not adopted rules on applicable penalties for infringement. And 11 are not ready to check whether operators and monitoring organisations fulfil their obligations.

While Mr Potocnik recognizes “the political, budgetary and organisational difficulties EU Member States face in implementing new legislation”, he also suggests that “they have had sufficient time to prepare for full implementation of the EUTR and the Commission has provided ample support through information and coordination meetings to take stock of progress, discuss implementation challenges, and share best practice”.

Consequently, Mr Potocnik says the Commission will intensify efforts to ensure uniform, stringent application throughout the EU. “We have already identified concrete implementation challenges and weaknesses and are working on a reinforced compliance strategy. The Commission intends to follow a dual approach. This would combine compliance promotion – through active support to Member States encountering implementation difficulties – and pursuing infringements through legal procedures”.

The EC intends to ensure that guidance documents are regularly updated and to strengthen bilateral dialogues with countries and communication between Competent Authorities on enforcement-related issues.

The EC has started requesting information from Member States about their EUTR implementation. National authorities concerned have 10 weeks to reply to the Commission's enquiry.

The French parliament finally passed enacting regulations for the EUTR on September 11; 18 months after the EUTR became law at EU level. The French regulations lay out sanctions and fines for non-compliance, including failure to exercise due diligence. France's Competent Authority, the Agriculture Department, says its' first EUTR checks of „operator‟ companies are expected toward the year-end.

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