To build on a commitment taken at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, in May 2003 the Commission published an EU Action Plan for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT). Council Conclusions were adopted in October 2003, and the European Parliament motion on the FLEGT action plan was adopted in February 2004. Illegal logging is responsible for vast environmental damage in developing countries, and impoverishes rural communities which depend on forest products for a living. Illegal logging costs governments in developing countries of an estimated €10-15bn every year in lost revenue. It is also closely associated with corruption, and serves to fuel the cycle of bribery and graft which does so much to curtail growth and prosperity in the developing world.
The Action Plan sets out a new and innovative approach to tackling illegal logging, which links the push for good governance in developing countries with the legal instruments and leverage offered by the EU’s own internal market.
The core components of the Action Plan are support for improved governance in wood-producing countries, and a licensing scheme to ensure only legal timber enters the EU. This licensing scheme will initially be implemented on a voluntary (but binding) basis, through a series of partnerships with wood-producing countries.
Other areas where the Commission proposes action include co-operation with other major comsumer markets, such as the US and Japan, to stop the trade illegally-harvested timber; and efforts to ensure on legally-harvested timber is sourced through public procurement contracts in the EU.