Earthsight says proposed EU deforestation law changes could increase illegal timber imports from Russia and Belarus.

Brussels

A majority of EU countries are advocating for changes to the EU's deforestation law, which was introduced to reduce the bloc's impact on global deforestation. The NGO Earthside has warned that these proposed simplifications could make it easier for illegal timber from Russia and Belarus to enter the EU market, particularly by reducing inspections and removing mandatory geolocation requirements.

According to Earthside, eight EU countries supporting the amendments have benefited significantly from illegal timber trade since sanctions were imposed on Russian and Belarusian timber. The NGO highlights that accurate geolocation data is crucial for verifying timber origins and preventing fraud, especially as Russian and Belarusian timber has been under EU sanctions since the start of the war in Ukraine.

NGO warns EU law changes may boost illegal Russia timber trade

A majority of EU countries are proposing changes to simplify the EU's deforestation law, a legislation approved in 2023 which aims at reducing the EU's impact on global deforestation. But the NGO Earthside has warned that these changes could facilitate illegal exports of timber from Russia and Belarus. In an interview with Euronews, Tara Ganesh, a timber expert at Earthside, said that the simplification measures would create more opportunities for fraud. Lighter rules could be applied to certain third countries, potentially resulting in fewer inspections and no mandatory geolocalisation requirements. Well, that's where the EU deforestation regulation would really, you know, close the circle in terms of the existing EU legislation and make it a requirement across the board for companies to not just know where their wood is coming from, because EUTR to some extent already requires that, but to show geolocation coordinates, for example, for where the wood in their products, you know, comes from, which is a very, very powerful tool because, you know, that could be used to debunk fake harvest claims, fake origin claims. The expert said that eight of the countries pushing for these amendments are, incidentally, benefiting significantly from the illegal timber trade. According to the NGO, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia account for 67% of the revenue generated from the fraudulent activity since the sanction came into force. Incidentally, a lot of the member states that were calling for the Norris proposal were also some of the member states that were getting some of the highest volumes of, you know, conflict plywood. Russian and Belarusian timber has been under EU sanctions since July 2022, following the start of the war in Ukraine in February that year.

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