The government says that in drawing up its timber procurement policy it has sanctioned both the Forest Stewardship Council and PEFC schemes as acceptable.
But, it explained, PEFC has been divided into two lists simply to denote that members of the government’s expert committee could not agree that the PEFC schemes in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, the US and Sweden met all the requirements with regard to social dialogue and indigenous people.
List one, which has priority, CITES PEFC schemes in Chile, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Norway, Austria, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain Czech Republic and the UK as acceptable.
In a letter to the Belgian government, FEBO president Jörg Reimer said he regretted the publication of the two lists.
And he asked: “What is the future if each country has its own public procurement policy? FEBO pleads for more co-operation and cohesion and refers to the EU initiative on FLEGT and co-operation with the private sector – the European Commission Timber Trade Action Plan.”
A spokeserpson for the Belgian government said: “This was a consultative process and there is no question of any blacklisting.”
