Written question asked by John Leech (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 28 October 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 30 October 2008. It was answered by Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour) on Monday, 10 November 2008 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Wood: Sustainable Development

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what consideration he has given to the introduction of binding regulations to provide that timber used in new buildings is sourced in a legal and sustainable manner.

Answer: The UK Government's Forest Governance and Trade Programme aims to tackle illegal logging and trade associated with it. It works to promote governance reforms in developing countries where illegal logging is a problem, and to improve the functioning of markets for wood products. Efforts focus on negotiating and implementing bilateral Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) between timber-producing countries and the EU, as part of the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan.The European Commission published recently a proposal for legislation requiring traders in timber to exercise due diligence to ensure that the timber they buy and sell is legally harvested. Once the regulation is agreed, the new requirements will ensure that legally harvested timber only is traded in the EU.The UK has lobbied hard for Community-wide measures to exclude illegal timber from the European market. This legislation will support the Government's efforts under the FLEGT Action Plan, which provides support to timber-producing countries who have problems with illegal logging to verify the legality of timber exports. The UK seeks to work in collaboration with other EU member states in preference to unilaterally introducing binding regulations.

Secondary information