The European forest-based industries would like to share some considerations on the draft report of MEP Hansen on the Regulation on deforestation-free value chains.
The signatories of this statement represent the European forest-based industries: these include the woodworking industries, the industries manufacturing pulp, paper and paper products, the furniture industry and the printing industry. Together they amount to around 420,000 enterprises with a total turnover of over 520 billion euros, supporting 3,5 million direct and indirect jobs in communities across Europe, while providing everyday products such as paper, furniture, construction, packaging and more.
The forest-based industries are supplied essentially from European forests which are managed sustainably for multiple purposes. This enables a strengthening of the European economy’s resilience, while developing a sustainable bioeconomy replacing fossil-based and carbon-intensive materials, in line with the Green Deal objectives. European forest-based industries strongly rely on voluntary market-based certification schemes demonstrating the sourcing of wood from sustainably managed forests according to internationally set criteria and indicators. Certification programs – like FSC or Pefc – work by ensuring that all steps of the production process are transparent and accounted for, allowing companies and consumers alike to make informed decisions about where their timber is sourced. Certification programs also guarantee compliance with international laws and standards on the rights of indigenous people and local communities.
Building on the strong involvement in sustainable forest management and certification, forest-based industries have gained additional experience since the adoption of the EU Timber Regulation in 2010. The Regulation requires them to implement additional due diligence to ensure that wood products placed on the EU market come from legal harvesting. This is why we would like to share some considerations on the draft Envi report.
The draft report brings significant improvements to the Commission proposal, both in terms of clarity of definitions and simplification of procedures, nevertheless some points deserve closer attention. You can download the document here.