Editorial

Citation

Leal Filho, W. (2009), "Editorial", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 20 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/meq.2009.08320baa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, Volume 20, Issue 2

Welcome to another issue of MEQ. Readers will find here once again a wide range of papers dealing with matters related to environmental quality management in different parts of the world. On this editorial, I would like to discuss some new rules proposed by the European Union to combate illegal timber trade.

Traders placing timber products on the EU market could soon be required to check that these products are sourced legally, according to legislative proposals tabled by the European Commission. Those failing to meet this requirement would face penalties, but the Commission stopped short of proposing an EU ban on illegal imports.

The draft regulation is intended to “minimise” the risk of illegally harvested timber being sold in Europe. It calls for traders to apply “due diligence” systems to all timber products. This would involve checking that the timber complies with relevant legislation in its country of origin and assessing whether there is a risk that it was illegally harvested.

Traders could either set up their own due diligence systems or join one already established by an officially recognised “monitoring organisation”, the commission says. Timber originating from countries with a “Flegt” partnership agreement with the EU would be considered in compliance with the rules.

The draft regulation received criticism from several quarters. An import ban on illegal timber had been considered but was rejected because of the “great difficulty” of tracing products back to their source and proving that they come from illegal sources. MEQ will be following developments in this field and will inform its readers about them.

Enjoy your reading!

Walter Leal Filho