Legality in Europe and China: Last actions to the support of the application of the EUTR and the pursuit of the collaboration between ATIBT / GGSC / CTWPDA

Support of the European commission to the application and implementation of the EUTR.

• Information supporting the correct application of the EUTR for the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire and Cameroon have been updated by UNEP-WCMC. Those sheets give a global country overview, their law, text to apply and a precise list of documents to be provided for any import/export of timber in Europe.
• The newscast of the meeting of the competent authorities expert group held on the19 february 2020 is available. The commission presented its action to establish a multi stakeholder plateform on Protecting and Restoring the World’s Forest, the Member States were updated on the simplification to the DECLARE online reporting template. UNEP-WCMC presented on the FLEGT annual report for 2018 and finally DG OLAF (European anti Fraud Office) presented an overview of ways in which they could support Member States’ enforcement actions.
• Others recent updates related to the EUTR have already been published by ATIBT :
  
  
  • Public consultation on the Fitness Check of the FLEGT and the EUTR and the study of the reglementation framework against the imported deforestation.
  • Studies from European Union on the forest certification system, completed by NEPCON

The new Chinese forest law

In China, the recently amended forestry law entered into force on July, the 1^st 2020. The amendments constitute the first revision of the law in more than two decades.

The law introduces a number of significant improvements, which aim to better protect China’s forest resources, promote sustainable development and contribute to the national policy of building an ecological civilization. The amended forest law includes a ban on buying, transporting, and/or processing illegally sourced timber, and requires processing companies to establish a data record of raw materials and products (Article 65). Read more on the new law here.

In this context and since the Shanghai forum, ATIBT has always had many exchanges with the organizations GGSC and CTWPDA, even if the COVID-19 crisis has slowed progress. The resumption of events, both in France and in China, should be an opportunity for joint collaboration to continue our reflection, promote the legality of the tropical timber traide and sustainability of forest products de as well as the sharing of experiences. on issues of legality and sustainable management of tropical forests, in particular through the following upcoming events:

• ATIBT Think-Tank III, expected on 2^nd ,3^rd ,4^th of  November 2020
• CTWPDA Hardwood and Wood Flooring conferences, confirmed November 20-22, 2020
• GGSC / ITTO International Forum, scheduled for April 2021
• COP 15 on biodiversity, Initially scheduled for Kunming (China) in October 2020, it has been postponed to 2021. The postponement represents an opportunity to prepare better visibility, a clear message together to promote sustainable management.
• Seoul WFC in May 2021, for which ATIBT prepare its participation.

Note: Some of the information of this article come from of the “Client Earth news” published.

To know more :

• ClientEarth news - April-June 2020
• ClientEarth news – Marsh 2019 to march 2020
• ClientEarth news – november/december 2019
• The 16th of June 2020  the 28th meeting of the FLEGT/EUTR expert group took place – read the agenda
•  Européen anti fraud office – DG OLAF
• The 2020 Global Forum on Forest Gouvernance was held on July 13-14, 2020.