Speaking at the latest Chatham House Illegal Logging Update in London, Luca Perez of the EC Directorate General Environment said that more resources were being allocated to MO application assessment.
"We appreciate the value they can have in providing help and guidance to business on due diligence and the EUTR generally," he said. "So we are building up capacity and working hard get through the application backlog from across the EU."
The role of MOs, which can be either private businesses or industry associations, is to set up EUTR-aligned illegal timber risk assessment due diligence systems (DDS) and then help client businesses adopt them. They also audit their use of the system and, if required, can manage their operation full time for companies.
Despite the fact that the EUTR was introduced a year ago, only two bodies have been approved as MOs by the EC authorities: Denmark-based international sustainability consultancy NEPCon and Italian industry association offshoot Conlegno. This has led to growing trade criticism, notably from the European and German Timber Trade Federations, which see the role of MOs as especially valuable for small to medium-sized timber businesses with limited resources to implement and run DDSs.
Mr Perez said that two more MO appointments were expected to be announced soon.
