proving legality of wood and wood products – current ......4412 plywood, veneered panels and...

Balkan workshop on Forest Products Markets and Forest Sector Workforce, Podgorica, 8-10 December 2015

Prof. dr Branko Glavonjić University of Belgrade-Faculty of Forestry

[email protected]

Proving legality of wood and wood

products – current development in

Serbia

mailto:[email protected]


I. Brief overview of illegal logging and trade globally II. Overview of the situation regarding unregistered consumption of

firewood on the Balkans III. Aim of the new EUTR and list of products covered by it IV. The main actors and their obligations in the process of

implementation of EUTR V. Position of operators from non-EU countries in the context of the

new EUTR VI. The main reasons for proving legality of wood and wood products

in Serbia

CONTENTS


I. Brief overview of illegal logging and trade globally


EU: Import of illegal harvested wood

26,5 – 31 million m³ of illegal harvested roundwood equivalent/annually are placed on EU timber market


Illegal logging and trade in the World

• 15% - 30% of the total timber trade in the world originated from illegal logging

• 30 – 100 Billion US$ is the value of global trade of illegal timber

• 50% - 90% of the value of

the global trade of illegal timber is under organized crime


II. Overview of the situation regarding unregistered consumption of firewood on the Balkans

Total consumption of

woody biomass on the

Western Balkans was

32.3 million m3 in

2013, out of which

23.2 million m3 or

71.8% was used for

energy purposes and

9.1 million m3 was

used for industrial

purposes.

Participation of certain consumer categories in woody biomass consumption for energy purposes on the Western Balkans


Unregistered

consumption of

woody biomass

was 13.4 million

m3 or 41.5% on

the level of

Western Balkans

in 2013.

Participation of unregistered consumption in total consumption of woody biomass for energy purposes on the

Western Balkans in 2013 (Figure: Glavonjić B. 2015).



1998. G8 DIALOG ABOUT ILLEGAL LOGGING

2003. FLEGT ACTION PLAN

2005. FLEGT Regulation

2008. FLEGT REGULATION ABOUT IMPLEMENTATION

2001. FLEG PROCESS

2010. EU TIMBER REGULATION

III. Aim of the new EUTR and list of products covered by it


III. Aim of the new EUTR and list of products covered by it


Three key obligations of operators

who place timber and timber products

on the market are:

1. prohibition of placing of illegally

harvested timber and products

derived from such timber on the EU

market;

2. implementation of due diligence

system

3. keeping of records of their

suppliers and customers.

III. List of products covered by EUTR


The EUTR covers a large range of timber products including solid wood products, flooring, plywood, pulp and paper. Not included are recycled products, as well as printed papers such as books, magazines and newspapers.

4401 Fuel wood, in logs, in billets, in twigs, in faggots or in similar forms; wood in chips or particles; sawdust and wood waste and scrap, whether or not agglomerated in logs, briquettes, pellets or similar forms

4403 Wood in the rough, whether or not stripped of bark or sapwood, or roughly squared

4406 Railway or tramway sleepers (cross-ties) of wood



4407 Wood sawn or chipped lengthwise, sliced or peeled, whether or not planed, sanded or end-jointed, of a thickness exceeding 6 mm

4408 Sheets for veneering (including those obtained by slicing laminated wood), for plywood or for other similar laminated wood and other wood, sawn lengthwise, sliced or peeled, whether or not planed, sanded, spliced or end- jointed, of a thickness not exceeding 6 mm

4409 Wood (including strips and friezes for parquet flooring, not assembled) continuously shaped (tongued, grooved, rebated, chamfered, V-jointed, beaded, moulded, rounded or the like) along any of its edges, ends or faces, whether or not planed, sanded or end-jointed



4410 Particle board, oriented strand board (OSB) and similar board (for example, waferboard) of wood or other ligneous materials, whether or not agglomerated with resins or other organic binding substances

4411 Fibreboard of wood or other ligneous materials, whether or not bonded with resins or other organic substances

4412 Plywood, veneered panels and similar laminated wood

4413 00 00 Densified wood, in blocks, plates, strips or profile shapes



4414 00 Wooden frames for paintings, photographs, mirrors or similar objects

4415 Packing cases, boxes, crates, drums and similar packings, of wood; cable-drums of wood; pallets, box pallets and other load boards, of wood; pallet collars of wood

4416 00 00 Casks, barrels, vats, tubs and other coopers’ products and parts thereof, of wood, including staves

4418 Builders’ joinery and carpentry of wood, including cellular wood panels, assembled flooring panels, shingles and shakes



Pulp and paper of Chapters 47 and 48 of the Combined Nomenclature, with the exception of bamboo-based and recovered (waste and scrap) products

9403 30, 9403 40, 9403 50 00, 9403 60 and 9403 90 30 Wooden furniture (no seats)

9406 00 20 Prefabricated buildings



IV. The main actors and their obligations in the process of implementation of EUTR

COMPETENT AUTHORITIES

MONITORING ORGANISATIONS

OPERATERS TRADERS



List of recognized monitoring organizations


1. Competent authorities

Each Member State shall designate one or more competent authorities responsible for the application of this Regulation. Main obligations: 1. Defining of the rules and instructions 2. Defining of the penalties 3. Controlling

Member states are currently defining the criteria for legality as well as what will be expected from local forestry operators in terms of evidence of compliance and due diligence to be provided in case of controls.



A Monitoring organization should: (a) maintain and regularly evaluate a due diligence

system and grant operators the right to use it; (b) verify the proper use of its due diligence system by such operators; (c) take appropriate action in the event of failure by an operator to properly use its due diligence system, including notification of competent authorities in the event of significant or repeated failure by the operator.

2. Monitoring organization An independent organization that develops a Due Diligence System and makes it available to operators for their compliance with EUTR.



3. Obligations of operators

Operators and Traders shall ensure that no timber of illegal origin or illegally derived timber products enter the European market.

Operators shall exercise due diligence system when placing timber or timber products on the market. Each operator shall maintain and regularly evaluate the due diligence system which it uses, except where the operator makes use of a due diligence system established by a monitoring organization ’’.



The due diligence system contains the following elements:

a) Measures and procedures providing access to information on products to be placed on the market

b) Risk assessments on products to identify illegal origin of products

c) Mitigation measures if the risk of importing illegal products is known as not negligible



1. description, including the trade name and type of product

as well as the common name of tree species and, where

applicable, its full scientific name,

2. country of harvest, and where applicable:

(i) sub-national region where the timber was harvested; and

(ii) concession of harvest,

a) Measures and procedures providing access to information on products to

be placed on the market contains:



3. quantity (expressed in volume, weight or number of units),

4. name and address of the supplier to the operator,

5. name and address of the trader to whom the timber and

timber products have been supplied,

6. documents or other information indicating compliance of those

timber and timber products with the applicable legislation;



1. assurance of compliance with applicable legislation, which may

include certification or other third-party- verified schemes which

cover compliance with applicable legislation,

2. prevalence of illegal harvesting of specific tree species,

3. prevalence of illegal harvesting or practices in the country of

harvest and/or sub-national region where the timber was

harvested, including consideration of the prevalence of armed

conflict,

b) Risk assessments on products to identify illegal origin of products contain:



4. sanctions imposed by the UN Security

Council or the Council of the European Union on

timber imports or exports,

5. complexity of the supply chain of timber and

timber products.

b) Risk assessments on products to identify illegal origin of products contain:



1. Where a non negligible level of risk is identified or when the risk level can not be determined, the operator must undertake mitigation measures to eliminate any potentially illegal timber. 2. Risk mitigation measures must be adequate and proportionate to effectively minimize any potential risk and may require additional information, documents and/or third-party verification. 3. Certification or other Third-party Verification Schemes may be taken into account in risk assessment and risk mitigation procedures in accordance with the criteria described by the EU Regulation 607/2012/EC.

c) Mitigation measures if the risk of importing illegal products is known as not negligible are:



4. Obligations of Traders

Traders buying or selling timber or timber products in the EU,

must be able to identify following actors in the supply/value

chain:

1. The operators or the traders who have supplied the timber and

timber products,

2. Client to whom the timber or timber products were sold (if the

identification is applicable)

Traders have to keep the information at least five years and

provide that information to competent authorities if they so

request.



5. Penalties

The penalties must be effective, proportionate to caused demage and dissuasive, comprising: (a) environmental damage, (b) the value of the timber or timber products concerned, (c) the tax losses, (d) economic detriment resulting from the infringement. (e) seizure of the timber and timber products concerned; (f) immediate suspension of authorization to trade.



V. Position of operators from non-EU countries in the context of the new EUTR

• Serbia doesn’t have VPA with EU – Due diligence system is still not required

• FOLLOWING DOCUMENTS with EU importers must contain:

– General data about supplier and buyer (company name, address,...)

– Type of goods (description, including the trade name and type of product as well as the common name of tree species and, where applicable, its full scientific name)

– Quantity (m3, weight, number of units)


• DELIVERY NOTE from state forests – General data about goods-description, quantity – sub-national region where the timber was harvested

(Serbiaforest, FU Nova Varoš)

• DELIVERY NOTE from private forest owners – General data about goods-description, quantity – Private property where the timber was harvested

• CERTIFICATION – Desirable but not sufficient condition

V. Position of operators from non-EU countries in the context of the new EUTR


Example of export of roundwood to the EU

State forest DELIVERY NOTE

Private forest DELIVERY NOTE

Roundwood spruce

Certificate of legality

Country of harvest (Serbia)


EXAMPLE OF EXPORT OF FURNITURE to the EU

SPRUCE

BEECH

OAK

COUNTRY OF HARVEST (Serbia)

COUNTRY OF HARVEST

Bosnia and Herzegovina

3 different wood species

State forests „DELIVERY NOTE Private forests “DELIVERY NOTE”

Country of harvest Croatia




VI. The main reasons for proving legality of wood and wood products in Serbia

• EUTR already indirectly applies to Serbia – suppliers’ requirements have to be provided via EU importers of wood;

• Since authorized bodies in EU countries are just at the beginning with serious supervision of their importers, there was no pressure so far to check wood supply chain;

• Requirements regarding the implementation of EUTR supervision, in particular reducing the risk (of illegal logging) in the context of SDP will soon get more strict, which may lead to market limitations of wood products export from Serbia

• Consistent implementation of the Law on forests (and others), forest certification and CoC are crucial for reducing the risk



• 1.Additional prohibition to market the wood, as well as to store

and process wood without accompanying documentation (as source of origin)

• 2.Expanded obligation to keep records of wood trade for all entities which place wood on the market

• 3.Expanded authorizations of the forestry inspector for supervision of wood trade (outside forests), without police assistance, as well as for supervision of wood storing and processing

Modifications in the Serbian Law on Forests



• 4. Introduced penalties for breaching these bans and

obligations (only) on the level of offence

• 5. Introduced possibility to define technical aspects of

harmonization with rulebooks.


• All entities which will place wood on internal market (Serbian/EU) become OPERATORS in terms of EUTR and they will have to establish capacities to implement EUTR requirements by themselves, in particular maintenance and implementation of DD, i.e. to outsource monitoring organizations for that;

• Legal persons/operators and traders will be directly supervised by (market and forestry) inspection units concerning the placement of wood on internal market.

• Business entities/operators will be supported by the Forest

Directorate as COMPETENT AUTHORITY for Serbia. • WOOD PROCESSING IN SERBIA WITHOUT THIS WILL NOT BE

POSSIBLE ANY MORE!



THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

Prof.dr Branko Glavonjic

University Professor

Faculty of Forestry Belgrade State University

Department of technology, management and

design of furniture and wood products

Kneza Viseslava 1, 11030 Belgrade

Republic of Serbia

tel.+381 11 30 53 863

fax.+381 11 30 59 537

email: [email protected]

[email protected]

www.sfb.rs




http://www.sfb.rs/

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