Speaking to an audience of 183 at the Western Timber Association annual dinner in Bristol last week, Mr White said that the furore over the discovery of horsemeat masquerading as beef in processed foods was a clear warning for the timber sector in the run-up to the introduction of the anti-illegal timber EUTR on March 3.
"At its heart the EUTR is about traceability and knowing that what we are buying is what it is supposed to be," he said. "And to be frank, we have not always been clear about what’s gone into the millions of cubic metres of wood products we import each year. Take plywood – a term covers many species of timber. Where do they come from? Have we always known? Well the EUTR means we have to."
If companies thought they could "get away with it" under the new legislation, they should think again.
"We’ve been working closely with the UK’s EUTR ‘police’, the National Measurement Office (NMO), and they know where the issues are," said Mr White. "The NGOs are all over this too and will be submitting challenging claims to the NMO from the start."
The TTF is also working with BBC documentary series Panorama, which is preparing a programme for May on the EUTR and illegal logging.
"Believe me, there is only one angle they will be taking," said Mr White. "And it won’t be to exonerate the timber trade if they uncover any illegality."
The consequences of not taking the EUTR seriously, he said, were clearly laid out in the horsemeat scandal.
"It has meant reputational and financial damage to brands, damage to the processed food industry and ultimately to the food sector as a whole. And for ‘food’, under the EUTR you can just as easily read ‘wood’. "
The EU Construction Products Regulation, he said, which would be implemented in July, would add to the pressure to ensure product claims and definitions were accurate and honest.
Given the reputational risks involved for the industry as a whole, Mr White said that the TTF and the law abiding timber sector had to look to the bigger picture and ensure the EUTR was vigorously enforced.
"And we have to say to anyone who does not meet the highest standards in terms of traceability and supply chain transparency, membership of the TTF is not for you," he said. "There is too much at stake for all of us to take any other view."
