on the exercise of the delegation conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 995/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 laying down the obligations of operators who place timber and timber products on the market (the EU Timber Regulation)

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND

THE COUNCIL

on the exercise of the delegation conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 995/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 laying down the obligations of operators who place timber and timber products on the market (the EU Timber Regulation)

1. Introduction

Regulation (EU) No 995/2010 (hereinafter the EU Timber Regulation or the Regulation) counters the placing on the internal market of illegally harvested timber and products made of such timber. It is part of the Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan, which is the Union policy instrument to fight illegal logging and associated trade. It also contributes to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation as well as to the conservation role of forests, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries that is based on the Warsaw Framework for REDD+.

The EU Timber Regulation introduces three obligations. First, it prohibits the placing on the EU market of illegally harvested timber and products derived from such timber. Secondly, it requires operators, defined as market participants who place timber products on the EU market for the first time, to exercise "due diligence'' in order to ensure the legality of harvesting of the wood imbedded in their products. Thirdly, to facilitate the traceability of timber products placed on the market, traders throughout the supply chain have an obligation to keep records of their supplier and their customer. The Regulation covers a wide range of timber products listed in its Annex using the EU Combined nomenclature codes. It provides for recognition of "monitoring organisations" by the Commission, whose role is to assist operators in meeting their obligations.

The EU Timber Regulation was adopted in December 2010 and entered into application on 3 March 2013. During this period, the Commission adopted two non-legislative acts. The first one is the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 607/2012 of 6 July 2012 on the detailed rules concerning the due diligence system and the frequency and nature of the checks on monitoring organisations, which was adopted as pursuant to article 18(2) of the EU Timber Regulation and article 5 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission. The second one is the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 363/2012 of 23 February 2012 on the procedural rules for the recognition and withdrawal of recognition of monitoring organisations as provided for in Regulation (EU) No 995/2010. The EU Timber Regulation requires (Article 15(1)) that the Commission makes a report in respect of the delegated powers; therefore the present report focusses specifically on the Delegated Regulation (EU) No 363/2012.

2. Legal Basis

The present report is required, as previously mentioned, by Article 15(1) of the EU Timber Regulation. Pursuant to this provision, the delegation is conferred on the Commission for a period of 7 years from 2 December 2010 and the Commission is required to make a report in respect of the delegated powers not later than 3 months before the end of a three-year period after the date of application of the Regulation, which is December 2015 as the Regulation became applicable on 3 March 2013.

3. Exercise of the delegation

According to the EU Timber Regulation, the Commission may adopt delegated acts concerning further relevant risk assessment criteria that may be necessary to supplement those already provided for in the Regulation (Art. 6(3)), concerning the procedure for the recognition and withdrawal of recognition of monitoring organisations and, if experience so requires, to amend them (Art. 8(7)), and concerning the list of timber and timber products to which the EU Timber Regulation applies (Art. 14).

The Commission adopted one delegated act, the Commission Delegated Regulation No 363/2012 of 23 February 2012 on the procedural rules for the recognition and withdrawal of recognition of monitoring organisations. The exercise of this empowerment responds to the need to supplement the requirements and the procedural rules regarding the recognition and withdrawal of recognition of monitoring organisations.

3.1 Delegated Act supplementing Regulation (EU) No 995/2010

According to Article 8(1) of the EU Timber Regulation a monitoring organisation is entitled to maintain and evaluate a due diligence system; to grant operators the right to use it; to verify the proper use of the due diligence system and to take appropriate action in case of failure by an operator to properly use it. Article 8(2) of the EU Timber Regulation additionally establishes the requirements an applicant shall comply with in order to apply for recognition as a monitoring organisation. According to this provision, if the applicant fulfils the statutory requirements, the Commission, after having consulted the Member State concerned, shall grant to the applicant recognition as a monitoring organisation.