REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005 of 20 December 2005 on the establishment of a FLEGT licensing scheme for imports of timber into the European Community (FLEGT Regulation)
Date: 2018-11-30
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: cooperation agreement (EU), delegated legislation, forestry legislation, import (EU), import licence, originating product, powers of the institutions (EU), surveillance concerning imports, third country, wood product

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 30.11.2018 COM(2018) 778 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005 of 20 December 2005 on the establishment of a FLEGT licensing scheme for imports of timber into the European Community (FLEGT Regulation)   
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 
AND THE COUNCIL 
On the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the 
Commission pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) 2173/2005 of 20 December 
2005 on the establishment of a FLEGT licensing scheme for imports of timber 
into the European Community (FLEGT Regulation) 

1.  INTRODUCTION 

In  2005,  the  European  Union  (EU)  adopted  Regulation  (EC)  No  2173/20051  of  20 
December  2005  on  the  establishment  of  a  FLEGT  licensing  scheme  for  imports  of 
timber into the European Community (hereinafter the FLEGT Regulation), as part of 
the  implementation  of  the  2003  EU  Action  Plan  on  Forest  Law  Enforcement, 
Governance and Trade (FLEGT).  

The  FLEGT  Regulation  lays  down  rules  for  the  implementation  of  the  FLEGT 
licensing  scheme  by  setting  out  requirements  for  imports  into  the  EU  of  timber 
products  originating  in  FLEGT  partner  countries  and  covered  by  a  FLEGT  licence.  
The  conditions  for  issuing  of  FLEGT  licences  are  set  out  in  bilateral  FLEGT 
Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) between the EU and partner countries. 

To date 6 VPAs have been concluded with: Cameroon, the Central African Republic, 
Ghana,  Indonesia,  Liberia  and  the  Republic  of  the  Congo.  Negotiations  have  been 
recently  concluded  with  Vietnam2  and  Honduras3,  while  they  are  ongoing  with  7 
additional  partner  countries,  notably  Côte  d'Ivoire,  the  Democratic  Republic  of  the 
Congo, Gabon, Guyana, Laos, Malaysia and Thailand. 

A period of time is generally required after conclusion of a FLEGT Agreement for the 
partner  country  to  finalise  practical  arrangements  for  full  operation  of  the  FLEGT 
licensing scheme. The FLEGT licensing scheme became operational for the first time 
on 15 November 2016 with the start of the FLEGT licensing from Indonesia.  

Indonesia is the only VPA country up to present that issues FLEGT Licences. 

The FLEGT VPA between the EU and Indonesia entered into force on 1 May 20144. 
In  line  with  Articles  10(1)  and  10(3)  of  the  FLEGT  Regulation,  as  amended  by 

1 OJ L 347, 30.12.2005, p. 1 
2 Council decision 2018/1528 on the signing of a FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement between the EU and 
the Socialist Republic of Vietnam was adopted on 11 October 2018 (OJ L 257, 15.10.2018, p. 1). The FLEGT 
VPA was signed on 19 October 2018. 
3 The EU and Honduras initialled a FLEGT VPA on 14 June 2018 
4 Further information on the EU-Indonesia VPA is available at: OJ L 150, 20.5.2014, p. 252 and OJ L 213,  
12.08.2015 p. 11.  

1 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
Regulation (EU) No 657/20145 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 
May 2014 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005 as regards the delegated 
and implementing powers to be conferred on the Commission, the decision to start the 
operation  of  the  FLEGT  licensing  scheme  in  Indonesia  involved  the  amendment, 
through  a  Commission  Delegated  Regulation6,  of  Annexes  I  and  III  to  the  FLEGT 
Regulation. With this amendment Indonesia and its Licensing Information Unit (LIU) 
were  included  in  the  list  of  "Partner  countries  and  their  designated  licensing 
authorities"  contained  in  Annex  I.  In  addition,  the  list  of  products  covered  by  the 
FLEGT licensing scheme in Indonesia were included in Annex III "Timber products to 
which  the  FLEGT  licensing  scheme  applies  only  in  relation  to  the  corresponding 
partner countries".  

2.  LEGAL BASIS 

The  present  report  is  required  by  Article  11(a)(2)  of  the  FLEGT  Regulation  as 
amended by Regulation (EU) 657/2014. Pursuant to this provision, the power to adopt 
delegated acts referred to in Article 10(1), (2) and (3) is conferred on the Commission 
for a period of five years from 30 June 2014 and the Commission is required to make a 
report in respect of the delegation of power not later than nine months before the end 
of the five-year period, i.e. before 30 September 2018. 

3.  EXERCISE OF THE DELEGATION 

Council Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005 confers powers upon the Commission in order 
to  implement  some  of  the  provisions  of  that  Regulation  in  particular  as  regards  the 
amendment  of  its  annexes  I  “Partner  Countries  and  their  Designated  Licensing 
Authorities”,  II  “Timber  products  to  which  the  FLEGT  licensing  scheme  applies 
irrespective  of  the  partner  country”  and  III  “Timber  products  to  which  the  FLEGT 
licensing scheme applies only in relation to the corresponding partner countries”.  

The  Commission  adopted  one  delegated  act,  the  Commission  Delegated  Regulation 
(EU)  2016/1387  of  9  June  2016,  amending  Annexes  I  and  III  to  Council  Regulation 
(EC) No 2173/2005 following a Voluntary Partnership Agreement with Indonesia for 
a  FLEGT  licensing  scheme  for  imports  of  timber  into  the  European  Union.  The 
exercise of this empowerment responds to the need to amend Annex I and Annex III 
of the Regulation 2173/2005 in order to start the operations of the FLEGT Licensing 
scheme  between  the  EU  and  Indonesia  by  adding  Indonesia  and  its  designated 
licensing  authorities  to  the  list  of  "Partner  countries  and  their  designated  licensing 
authorities" contained in Annex I and the list of timber products to which the FLEGT 
licensing  scheme  applies  in  Annex  III  "Timber  products  to  which  the  FLEGT 
licensing scheme applies only in relation to the corresponding partner countries”. 

5 OJ L 189, 27.6.2014, p. 108 
6 OJ L 223, 18.8.2016, p. 1.  

2 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
The  Commission  Expert  Group  on  Forest  Law  Enforcement,  Governance  and  Trade 
was consulted in meetings held on 18 May and 15 June 2015, and subsequently kept 
informed about progress in addressing remaining issues that were required before start 
of the FLEGT licensing scheme from Indonesia. The delegated act was adopted on 9 
June 2016 and was 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 11(a)(5) of the FLEGT Regulation as 
amended by Regulation (EU) 657/2014 . 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 its application started on 15 November 2016. 

4.  CONCLUSION 

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

As it is likely that further FLEGT partner countries will start FLEGT licensing in the 
forthcoming period the Commission sees the need to extend the delegation of powers 
for a period of five years. The Commission will further exercise its delegated powers 
when  other  VPA  partner  countries  are  ready  to  start  implementation  of  the  FLEGT 
licensing scheme. 

3