Illegal timber exports

3.6.2013

Question for written answer E-006307-13
to the Commission
Rule 117
Nuno Melo (PPE)

— According to official statistics from Mozambique, 260 385 cubic metres of native timber logs and cut planks were exported to different parts of the world in 2012.

— Several organisations working to counter the sale of illegally cut timber have highlighted that, for example, China alone imported far more timber from Mozambique, according to Chinese customs officials, than the totally officially sold by Maputo.

— The EU is making efforts to check the origin of timber that arrives in Europe, having adopted a directive in 2010, which entered into force only this year and which, for the first time, obliges EU operators selling timber on the European market to know the origin of the timber and to maintain records to identify the seller and purchaser of the products, as well as to take steps to ensure that the timber was extracted in accordance with the legislation of the country of origin.

Does the Commission believe that such legislation guarantees that there has been no illegal timber exploitation and particularly that logs of protected species, which are in high demand on the international market, have not been illegally exported?

OJ C 46 E, 18/02/2014