The European Federation of the Plywood Industry (FEIC) is investigating whether it can establish a market surveillance group in the UK to check plywood imports more thoroughly and frequently.
The move follows concern about the quality of plywood on the British market with some FEIC members fearing that plywood which is not fit for purpose could be used in construction applications.
That risk, members believe, could be exacerbated by the increase of foreign plywood products on the UK market.
The matter proved a hot topic at the FEIC board meeting in Brussels where members heard there is concern about the veracity of some CE marked goods – and that checks in the UK are proving difficult.
There is also concern about the increasing impact of foreign competition. While plywood imports from Brazil, Indonesia and Malaysia all declined during the first eight months, imports from China soared by 131% to 330,000m3.
David Duke-Evans of the Wood Panel Industries Federation and chairman of the industry’s CE marking advisory group said: “We are establishing a liaison with FEIC to try and influence this problem.
“There is a lot of circumstantial evidence that plywood is being used in structural situations where the credentials for the product are very weak.
“We are making strong representations to the ODPM about the effectiveness of the powers of Trading Standards under the construction products regulations. We have found Trading Standards are backing away from this problem because they don’t think they have the sanctions to deal with it properly.
” We are not against imports as such, but we want a level playing field. We and the FEIC believe the market in the UK is very sensitive and the surveillance techniques are not sophisticated enough to monitor it properly.”
FEIC plans to produce a brochure specifying the exact requirements of CE marking in the New Year.
