REGULATORY SCRUTINY BOARD OPINION FITNESS CHECK Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the making available on the Union market as well as export from the Union of certain commodities and products associated with deforestation and forest degradation and repealing Regulation (EU) No 995/2010
Date: 2021-11-17
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: cattle, commodities market, deforestation, export (EU), market approval, reduction of gas emissions, soya bean, tropical plant, vegetable oil, wood product

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

7.5.2021

SEC(2021) 396

REGULATORY SCRUTINY BOARD OPINION

FITNESS CHECK

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the 

making available on the Union market as well as export from the Union of certain 

commodities and products associated with deforestation and forest degradation and 

repealing Regulation (EU) No 995/2010

COM(2021)  706 

SWD(2021)  328 

SWD(2021) 329

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 
Regulatory Scrutiny Board 

Brussels,  
RSB 

Opinion 

Title: Fitness check of the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Council 
Regulation (EC) N° 2173/2005 and the EU Timber Regulation (EU) N° 995/2010 

Overall opinion: POSITIVE 

(A) Policy context 

Illegal  logging  and  related  trade  contribute  to  deforestation.  This  has  important  negative 
effects,  inter  alia  on  climate  change  and  biodiversity.  The  EU’s  policy  to  tackle  illegal 
logging  relies  on  two  pieces  of  legislation:  the  EU  Timber  Regulation  (EUTR)  and  the 
Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Council Regulation (FLEGT).  

FLEGT entered into force in 2005. It establishes a licensing scheme for imports of timber 
into  the  EU  through  a  Voluntary  Partnership  Agreement  (VPA).  This  is  a  bilateral  trade 
treaty for timber and timber products between the EU and timber producing countries.  

EUTR  entered  into  force  in  2013.  It  lays  down  the  obligations  for  placing  timber  and 
timber products on the EU market.  It requires operators to exercise ‘due diligence’ so as 
not to derive their timber from illegal sources. Traders have to collect relevant information, 
assess  the  risk  of  illegally  harvested  timber  in  the  supply  chain,  and  take  measures  to 
minimise this risk.   

This fitness check aims to evaluate the functioning and effectiveness of both Regulations 
and whether they are still ‘fit for purpose’.  

(B) Summary of findings 

The  Board  notes  the  useful  additional  information  provided  in  advance  of  the 
meeting and the commitments to make changes to the report. 

The Board gives a positive opinion. The Board also considers that the report should 
further improve with respect to the following aspects: 

(1)  The report does not sufficiently identify the benefits of both Regulations in view 

of their high costs and their limited effectiveness to date.  

(2)  The  report  does  not draw  clear  conclusions  on  whether  the  Regulations  are ‘fit 

for purpose’. It lacks clear take-aways for future decision-making.  

  ________________________________   

This opinion concerns a draft fitness check which may differ from the final version. 

Commission européenne, B-1049 Bruxelles - Belgium. Office: BERL 08/010. E-mail: regulatory-scrutiny-board@ec.europa.eu 

 
 
 
 
 
(C) What to improve 

(1)  The  report  should  better  explain  the  main  driving  factors  behind  the  limited 
effectiveness of the Regulations. It should explain the relative importance of each of these 
factors and indicate to what extent they are within EU control (e.g. regulatory design and 
implementation failures).  

(2)  The  report  should  bring  out  the  ‘fitness  check’  angle  of  the  evaluation  more  clearly 
and  better  indicate  what  links  exist  between  the  two  Regulations  in  terms  of  synergies, 
complementarities, overlaps or streamlining potential (e.g. for monitoring or enforcement). 

(3)  The  report  should  better  demonstrate  the  different  types  of  benefits  that  both 
Regulations intendedly or unintendedly produced. The report should explore (qualitatively 
if  quantified  evidence  is  not  available)  to  what  extent  illegal  logging  has  been  reduced 
because  of  benefits  such  as  increased  awareness  and  better  forest  governance  in  wood-
producing  countries.  The  report  should  explain  better  whether  the  benefits  outweigh  the 
costs  of  the  Regulations.  It  should  indicate  what  the  potential  is  for  reducing  the  high 
compliance and operating costs of the Regulations. 

(4)  In  view  of  possible  unintended  consequences  such  as  ‘leakage’,  the  report  should 
indicate  whether  complementary  measures  might  be  necessary  to  fight  deforestation 
worldwide based on the evaluation findings. 

(5)  The  conclusions  should  make  a  more  critical,  evidence-based  judgement  of  how  the 
Regulations have performed. They should clarify to what extent they remain relevant and 
draw clearer lessons for policy-makers. 

(6)  The  report  should  dedicate  more  attention  to  the  issue  of  data  limitations  and  draw 
lessons for future data-collection as a way to facilitate better measurement of the degree of 
future success of both Regulations.  

Some more technical comments have been sent directly to the author DG. 

(D) Conclusion 

The  DG  must  take  these  recommendations  into  account  before  launching  the 
interservice consultation. 

Full title 

Fitness check of the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and 
Trade Council Regulation (EC) N° 2173/2005 and the EU 
Timber Regulation (EU) N° 995/2010 

Reference number 

PLAN/2019/6094 

Submitted to RSB on 

12 April 2021 

Date of RSB meeting 

5 May 2021 

Electronically signed on 07/05/2021 12:52 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 11 of Commission Decision C(2020) 4482

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