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)
Date: 2016-02-18
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: European Commission, European forestry policy, delegated legislation, forest conservation, illicit trade, market approval, market supervision, transfer of competence, wood product, wood production

EN 

   EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 18.2.2016  COM(2016) 60 final   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)  
 
 
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  995/20101  (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 Regulation2 (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 995/2010.3 The EU Timber Regulation requires (Article 

1 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  Text  with  EEA  relevance  (OJ  L  295, 
12.11.2010, p. 23). 
2 Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 607/2012, OJ L 177, 7.7.2012, p. 16–18. 
3 Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 363/2012, OJ L 115, 27.4.2012, p. 12–16.  

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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 
363/20124 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.  

Pursuant  to  Article  8(4),  the  competent  authorities  carry  out  checks  on  monitoring 
organisations within their jurisdiction to verify that they fulfil the functions and comply with 
the  requirements  in  Article  8(1)  and  (2)  of  the  EU  Timber  Regulation  and  inform  the 
Commission  in  case  a  monitoring  organisation  no  longer  fulfils  the  functions  and  comply 
with  the  requirements  (Art.  8(5)).  The  Commission  shall  withdraw  recognition  of  a 
monitoring organisation, in particular on the basis of the information provided in accordance 
to Article8(5) of the Regulation, in case the monitoring organisation concerned does not fulfil 
the requirements established in Article 8(1) and (2).  

4 OJ L 115, 27.4.2012, p. 12–16.  

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Pursuant  to  Article  8(7)  of  the  EU  Timber  Regulation,  the  Commission  is  empowered,  by 
means  of  delegated  acts,  to  adopt  procedural  rules  supplementing  Regulation  (EU)  No 
995/2010  for  the  recognition  and  withdrawal  of  recognition  of  monitoring  organisations, 
while ensuring that the recognition and withdrawal of recognition are performed in a fair and 
transparent manner. 

The  Expert  Group  on  timber  and  timber  products  was  consulted  on  the  draft  delegated 
Regulation  during  its  meetings  on  18  May  2011  and  7  July  2011.  The  delegated  act  was 
adopted  on  23  February  2012  and  notified  to  the  European  Parliament  and  to  the  Council. 
Neither  the  European  Parliament  nor  the  Council  issued  any  objection  to  the  delegated  act 
within the period of 2 months as provided for in Article 17(1) of the EU Timber Regulation. 
None  of  the  institutions  initiated  an  extension  of  the  2  months  period  by  additional  two 
months in accordance with the same provision.  

On the expiry of the 2 months period, the delegated act was published in the Official Journal 
of the EU and entered into force on 17 May 2012. 

The  Commission  has  not  yet  adopted  delegated  acts  concerning  further  relevant  risk 
assessment  criteria  that  may  be  necessary  to  supplement  those  already  provided  for  in  the 
Regulation (Art. 6(3)), and concerning the list of timber and timber products to which the EU 
Timber  Regulation  applies  (Art.  14)  as  more  experience  with  the  application  of  the 
Regulation  is needed in order to assess the necessity of such  amendments.  

4. CONCLUSION 

The  Commission  has  properly  exercised  its  delegated  powers  and  invites  the  European 
Parliament and the Council to take notice of this report. 

The Commission still considers the delegated powers pursuant to Article 6(3) and Article 14 
of  the  EU  Timber  Regulation  necessary,  in  particular  for  the  purposes  of  amending  and/or 
supplementing the list of timber and timber products set out in the Annex. For the purposes 
of amending the Annex and thus revising the Regulation product scope, the Commission will 
take into consideration  the results of the review of the Regulation as  presented  in  the Staff 
Working Document and the Report, required by Article 20(3) of the EU Timber Regulation.  

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