At a meeting of the London Hardwood Club at the RAF Club, speaker Michael Worrell – the National Measurement and Regulation Office’s (NMRO) enforcement policy officer – gave companies the latest update on enforcement of the regulation.
“It will be nigh on impossible to bring a case to court,” said Mr Worrell.
“You would have to be 1000% sure that the timber is definitely sourced illegally and I cannot think of any case where you could do that.”
Mr Worrell said the NMRO does send warning letters and can require remedial action to be taken by timber companies.
But he said there was evidence of good things happening due to the EUTR, with companies looking at their sourcing more carefully and sometimes changing their suppliers and sourcing patterns. Scientific testing of timber by companies had also become more commonplace.
One of the big talking points at the meeting was the role of third party certification in the EUTR compliance process.
Mr Worrell said third-party certification such as FSC and PEFC had a role to play and operators could use them as part of their risk mitigation measurements.
“But there are flaws in individual third-party certification schemes and they are never ever a green light through the regulation.”
He also cleared up questions as to how companies were selected for further scrutiny. Customs data and product codes he said were the principal method of selecting companies, although the NMRO could follow up whistle-blowing and other industry data as well.
He said the volumes and value of timber imported were assessed as part of its selection process. Mr Worrell said one of the biggest headaches for the supply chain was suppliers/agents not passing on information.
“The hardwood sector is a pretty decent sector,” added Mr Worrell, “but the product represents an elevated risk.”
