The Timber Trade Federation (TTF) recognised the need to develop the Responsible Purchasing Policy (RPP) to enable timber agents, importers and merchants to meet the changing demands of the timber procurement environment.

The RPP is a tool to help companies deliver the commitments of the TTF Code of Conduct which requires that: “Members are committed to sourcing timber and timber products from legal and well-managed forests. Members unreservedly condemn illegal logging practices and commit to working with suppliers and other stakeholders towards their complete elimination”.

Demands are also being placed on the industry by central government procurement policy and Naturally Wood, the UK forest industries sector sustainability strategy, which both demand credible evidence that supplies of timber and timber products have been sourced from well-managed forest and can be traced along the supply chain.

The RPP has already been well received by central government as a mechanism for the industry to satisfy its new procurement guidelines for timber and timber products.

The policy has been developed for the industry, by the industry to ensure it can be assimilated into timber procurement operations. Frank Miller of Oxigenisis and I have worked closely in developing the content with a project group of timber companies, including Finnforest UK, Clarks Wood Company Ltd, Saint Gobain, Focus Wickes Ltd, Hopping Softwood Products plc, Timbmet Ltd, Wolseley UK and UCM Timber plc. The details were then discussed with a large cross-section of stakeholders including academics, government departments and environmental NGOs. Finally the policy was pilot tested by Wolseley UK, AW Champion Ltd, Howarths Timber Ltd and James Latham plc.

“Suppliers of tropical timber are going to take time to develop schemes demonstrating third party verification of legal log supply and sustainable production,” said Peter Latham, director of James Latham. “In the meantime, the RPP provides a framework for companies to assess the risk factors in their supply chain.”

“The RPP is in fact a risk management tool,” said Paul Robertson, regional manager of Wolsley’s Timber Centre. “It provides signatories with a structured approach to managing illegal timber out of their supply chains.”

How does it work?

The guidelines show how to develop responsible purchasing policy, with environmental commitments. The latter address many of the key issues facing the timber industry today. These include adherence to CITES legislation and implementation of traceability and supplier monitoring and timber certification. The RPP system then outlines a procedure to assess a company’s suppliers’ ability to deliver against these commitments. The result is a risk rating of suppliers. Companies are committed to supporting those suppliers who work with them to improve their risk rating.

A summary of the risk ratings and recommendations to suppliers to improve their risk rating is then independently audited, giving the RPP credibility. The ultimate aim is for a company’s supply base to consist of 100% low risk suppliers.

At the core of the RPP is the risk assessment that scores suppliers as low, medium or high risk in terms of their potential for supplying illegal timber. Pilot testing demonstrated that the questionnaire and assessment approach were effective and that the risk assessment procedure was comprehensive and generated reliable results for the suppliers.

Levels of certified material in the supply chain are increasing and where there is full chain of custody a timber product with a logo is the best reassurance that the product originates from a legal and sustainable forest source. But currently companies are still unable to secure all their supplies from certified areas. Recognition must be given to well-managed, non-certified sources for which there is reliable information and where there is a secure legal framework and a well-resourced and governed forestry department.

The RPP allows these areas to be recognised in terms of their ability to deliver legal and well-managed timber backed by documentation that can be independently audited.

What will the RPP show?

The benefits of the RPP are that it provides:

  • reassurance to customers that a company is actively selecting suppliers that can provide legal and progressively sustainable timber;

  • access to certain discriminating timber markets, like central government and big construction companies;

  • risk management; by providing a systematic approach to collecting information from suppliers and developing a preferential suppliers list.

The TTF will be providing RPP training materials to members and will also have an RPP manager to assist them with implementation.

The initiative will generate an increasing amount of credible, objective evidence on supplies of timber and timber products coming into the UK. This will develop into a database of suppliers, with the latter able to register their company and product details online, further speeding up the process of supplier risk assessment for RPP signatories.