The review aims to ensure government timber purchases meet CPET procurement guidelines.
The results were due to be made public in September, but Kate Bottriell, CPET co-ordinator at ProForest which is managing CPET, said the announcement will now be made in October.
“Defra is still considering the review findings and, in particular, is making further enquiries with some of the schemes.
“The expectation is that they should be ready to make an announcement at the end of October or the beginning of November.”
Ms Bottriell said that through CPET, Defra continued to be engaged in discussion regarding harmonisation of timber procurement policy within Europe.
“At the upcoming Joint UNECE/FAO Policy Forum on Public Procurement in Geneva on October 5, the UK will be giving a joint presentation with Dutch and Danish government representatives,” she said.
The certification schemes being reviewed by CPET are the Canadian Standards Association, Forest Stewardship Council, Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification, Sustainable Forestry Initiative and Malaysian Timber Certification Council.
The government has accepted the first four schemes as providing assurance of legal and sustainable timber, while the MTCC is evidence of legal timber only.
