FLEGT: Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade Regulations

Overview

The UK government are introducing major new legislation to tackle the global trade in illegal timber. This UK wide regulation will implement existing EU Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) legislation. It is expected to come into effect by the end of 2011.

The FLEGT Regulation

The EU FLEGT Regulation relates to a limited number of timber-producing countries that have signed a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the EU and have fully implemented all its requirements. The FLEGT Regulation makes it illegal to import certain types of timber and timber products into the EU from these partner countries unless that timber has been licensed by the exporting country as being legally harvested.

What is a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA)?

A Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) is a bilateral agreement negotiated between the EU and timber producing countries. A VPA is a key part of the FLEGT action plan and under the terms of a VPA, a partner country agrees with the EU to implement a timber licensing system. From that partner country, the EU will only accept licensed timber products and unlicensed products will be refused customs clearance, so as to prevent illegal products from entering the EU market.

Which timber products are subject to FLEGT Licensing?

The precise timber products to which the FLEGT licensing requirements will apply will vary on the individual VPA, so they may vary from partner country to partner country. However, all VPAs signed to date include all partner countries’ timber and timber derived products exports.

How will it work?

Currently the precise details of the UK domestic FLEGT Regulation are still being considered. Details of the regulation may therefore still change.

Generally however, it will work like this:

Importers to the EU of specified products from a country that has implemented a licensing system will need to present their FLEGT Licence (issued by the exporting VPA country) to the 'competent authority' of the country into which it is to enter the EU.
For the UK this competent authority is Defra's Animal Health & Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA). Presenting the FLEGT licence will have to be done when the consignment is still en route.
The AHVLA will input details of the licence on its computer system and will check it against the requirements set out in the regulation. It may query any anomalies with the issuing authority in the VPA country. The AHVLA will determine whether it is a valid licence.
When a consignment arrives at the UK port of entry, HMRC's National Clearance Hub will be able to check whether a FLEGT licence has been presented and whether this licence is valid. If the licence is valid, the consignment can be released.

More details on the process and potential penalties and fees will be added to this page when they become available.