COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Evaluation of 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) Accompanying the document
Date: 2016-02-18
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: European forestry policy, forest conservation, illicit trade, market approval, market supervision, single market, wood product, wood production

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   EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 18.2.2016  SWD(2016) 33 final   COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Evaluation   of 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) Accompanying the document {COM(2016) 74 final} {SWD(2016) 34 final}  
 
 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

This  Staff  Working  Document  evaluates  the  application  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  995/20101  
(the Timber Regulation, hereinafter the EUTR or the Regulation) during its first two years of 
application. 

The  EUTR  was  adopted  in  December  2010  and  entered  into  application  on  3  March  2013. 
The interim period was intended to allow competent authorities (CAs) in the Member States 
and the industry to prepare for its application. The Commission elaborated during this time a 
delegated and an implementing act to facilitate implementation2. 

In accordance with Article 20(3) of the EUTR, the EC has to review by 3 December 2015, on 
the  basis  of  reporting  on  and  experience  with  its  application,  "the  functioning  and 
effectiveness of the Regulation ". The present evaluation, the first since the entry into force of 
the  EUTR,  is  based  on  these  legal  requirements.  The  evaluation  has  been  conducted 
according  to  the  EU  'Better  Regulation'3  guidelines.  It  provides  replies  to  five  evaluation 
questions: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and EU-added value.  

The EUTR is an EU legislative instrument to address the global problem of illegal logging by 
acting on the side of the demand for timber and timber products. It forms part of a broad set 
of measures introduced with the Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade Action Plan 
(FLEGT AP), the Union’s overall response to the pervasive problem of illegal logging and its 
devastating impact on forests. 

The  FLEGT  AP  was  adopted  in  2003.  It  sets  out  processes  and  measures  to  reduce  the 
marketing of illegal timber into the EU, to improve the supply of legal timber and to increase 
the  demand  for  timber  sourced  from  responsibly  managed  forests.  A  central  element  of  the 
FLEGT  AP  are  the  Voluntary  Partnership  Agreements  (VPAs)  signed  between  the  EU  and 
non-EU  timber  producing  countries4.  As  the  FLEGT  AP  recognised  the  possibility  of 
developing new legislation to overcome the limitations of a bilateral supply-side approach, in 
2008 the Commission submitted a legislative proposal, which later resulted in the adoption as 
the EUTR.  

The  implementation  of  the  EUTR  has  been  slow  in  most  Member  States.  While  some 
Member  States  have  progressed  in  fulfilling  the  obligations  imposed  by  the  EUTR,  the 
overall  implementation  remains  insufficient  and  there  are  still  four  not  fully  compliant 
Member States. 

The  evidence  collected  suggests  that  insufficient  resources  allocated  to  CAs  are  a  major 
challenge  for  the  effective  enforcement  of  the  EUTR.  Nonetheless,  it  should  be  considered 
that  the EUTR has  been  issued in a period  of reduced  public  expenditure, which may  have 
impacted  upon  resources  allocation.  The  assessment  also  shows  that  the  types  and  level  of 
sanctions  for  infringements  are  highly  divergent  across  Member  States  and  a  different 
understanding  and  enforcement  of  the  EUTR  exists  among  CAs.  While  there  is  indication 
that  EU  operators  have  increasingly  applied  the  due  diligence  (DD)  requirements, 
implementation and compliance by the private sector has been uneven.  

1 Regulation (EU) No 995/2010, OJ L 295, 12.11.2010, p. 23–34.  
2 Commission delegated Regulation (EU) 363/2012, OJ L 115, 27.4.2012, p. 12–16 and Commission 
implementing Regulation (EU) 607/2012, OJ L 177, 7.7.2012, p. 16–18. 
3 Commission communication on Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme (REFIT) - COM(2014)368 
4 Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ghana, Indonesia, Liberia and Republic of Congo. 

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Since the EUTR has been in force for a relatively short period of time, it was not possible to 
determine, with a reasonable degree of certainty, whether it has had significant impacts on the 
market such as causing shifts in trade flows. 

The  evaluation  shows  that  the  EUTR  continues  to  be  highly  relevant  for  tackling  illegal 
logging  and  related  trade  by  changing  market  behaviour  patterns  and  progressively 
establishing supply chains free of illegally harvested timber. This is also confirmed by the 7th 
Environmental Action Programme5, which refers explicitly to the EUTR "as a legal basis for 
the Union to address the global problem of illegal logging through its demand for timber and 
timber products". The EUTR is also an important instrument in the EU's international efforts 
to  halt  deforestation  and  forest  degradation,  enhance  and  maintain  biodiversity  and  address 
global climate change.  

Internationally,  the  EUTR  encouraged  other  consumer  countries  (such  as  Australia,  China 
and Japan) to adopt similar legislative acts and created an incentive for producer countries to 
develop  systems  to  verify  and  demonstrate  compliance  with  the  legality  requirements, 
including by concluding VPAs with the EU. 

The EU added-value of the EUTR continues to be valid: the objective can be better achieved 
by  establishing  uniform  rules  that  will  allow  the  Union  and  its  Member  States  to  take  full 
advantage of their combined market leverage to ensure demand for legally-harvested timber 
and avoid distortion of competition.  

The  EUTR  is  coherent  with  other  relevant  policy  instruments  and,  in  particular,  with  the 
VPAs  and  FLEGT-licencing  scheme,  and  the  EU  Wildlife  Trade  Regulations6.  The 
complementarity of these two policy frameworks is demonstrated by the recognition given by 
the  EUTR  to  the  FLEGT  licences  and  permits  issued  according  to  the  Convention  on 
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).  

In  terms  of  efficiency,  the  EUTR  has  entailed  highly  variable  compliance  costs  for  the 
Member States  and for the private sector, which have to  be considered against  its expected 
benefits  in  terms  of  reducing  illegal  logging  and  creating  a  level-playing  field  that  keeps 
illegal timber and timber-based products out of the market.   

A  quantitative  evaluation  of  the  effectiveness  of  the  EUTR  is  challenging  due  to  the 
clandestine nature of the illegal activities and the absence of precise data on their volume and 
cost.  At  EU  level,  insufficient  human  and  financial  resources  allocated  to  the  CAs  to 
effectively implement the EUTR have prevented it from developing its full potential.  

In  conclusion,  the  evaluation  has  revealed  that  the  EUTR  has  the  potential  to  achieve  its 
objectives. However, further consistent efforts are needed from both the Member States and 
the private sector before an effective and efficient application can be achieved.  

The  EUTR  has,  nonetheless,  produced  some  first  tangible  results:  the  communication 
campaigns carried out by the Commission and the Member States have raised awareness of 
the problem of the illegal logging amongst EU consumers. It has also created an incentive for 
producer countries to develop systems to verify and demonstrate compliance with the legality 
requirements. 

5 Decision no 1386/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2013 on a General 
Union Environment Action Programme to 2020 ‘Living well, within the limits of our planet’, OJ L 354, 
28.12.2013, p. 171–200. 
6 Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97 of 9 December 1996 on the protection of species of wild fauna and flora 
by regulating trade therein, OJ L 61, 3.3.1997, p. 1–69. 

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