Press release - April 22, 2009
Brussels, Belgium — In a landmark vote today, the European Parliament plenary has supported the recommendations of its environment committee to strictly control timber and timber products sold on the EU market. Agriculture ministers will now have to take this law forward before the summer and the EU should adopt the final by the end of this year to ensure no illegal wood products can reach consumers.
The Parliament has substantially improved the Commission's draft timber law by requiring companies to ensure the legality of wood products sold in shops and by creating an EU-wide framework of sanctions and penalties to dissuade offenders.[1] It has also recommended a move towards fully sustainable sourcing. At present, an estimated 19% of EU wood imports come from illegal logging, which worsens deforestation and forest degradation, contributes to climate change and biodiversity loss, and exacerbates poverty and social tensions in developing countries.
"Today's vote has taken us a step closer to excluding illegal timber from the EU market, making companies accountable for the products they sell, and helping reduce the EU's environmental and social footprint on the world's forests," said Sebastien Risso, Greenpeace EU forest policy director.
"Agriculture ministers must now answer the call by European citizens and the Parliament to strictly regulate wood products. Greenpeace calls on the Czech Presidency to show authority and ensure that this legislation is urgently adopted," added Risso.[2]
The Parliament is also expected to adopt a resolution in a vote tomorrow, which calls for EU leadership in tackling deforestation and forest degradation as part of the Copenhagen climate negotiations. The European Parliament has called for the creation of a multilateral forest fund based on a new international financing scheme, in order to finance measures to halt global deforestation and forest degradation by 2020, and help stop dangerous climate change.[3]
Greenpeace supports the Parliament recommendations and calls on the EU and other industrialised countries to commit €30 billion annually (through a new financing scheme) to tackle deforestation and forest degradation, in particular in the Amazon, the Congo basin and southeast Asia.
Other contacts:
Sebastien Risso – Greenpeace EU forest policy director: +32 (0)2 274 1 901, +32 (0)496 12 70 09 (mob.), 
Mark Breddy – Greenpeace EU communications manager: +32 (0)2 274 1 903, +32 (0)496 15 62 29 (mob.), 
Notes:
[1] Improvements on the timber law made by the Parliament:
- Clear binding obligations for EU timber traders to check the legality of the wood they buy and sell, including a reliable risk assessment procedure;
- Legal responsibility shared between all EU timber traders in the supply chain;
- An EU-level mechanism that guarantees credible and independent monitoring of the systems used by timber companies;
- Powers of enforcement and control given to EU member states;
- EU-wide framework of sanctions and penalties to ensure a level playing field.
[2] In a public opinion poll commissioned by WWF and Friends of the Earth (FoE) Europe, 92% of respondents supported an ambitious EU timber law. Details about the poll, including results in each of the polled countries, are available at: http://assets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_foe_poll_factsheet_1.pdf.
[3] More information on Greenpeace policies on Forests for Climate, can be found at: http://www.greenpeace.org/forestsforclimate