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engineer provides training in the field for suppliers in transition or wanting to switch towards certification in the near future. We also participate in webinars and presentations on the topic, such as the upcoming FSC event in Belem in November, which will be a perfect occasion to lead our suppliers towards certification.”
The company is also seeing a “shift in demand” among customers, “not necessarily for certified timber, but certainly for third party-verified”.
This year the African species padouk, khaya and doussie joined others such as afrormosia in being listed in CITES Appendix II, although a leading authority on the topic of endangered species, the Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech faculty at the University of Liège, said this was not justified in the case of padouk and doussie. Next year ipe and cumaru will follow. Given other availability issues with varieties such as doussie, the new CITES listings and their labelling of species as ‘endangered’ – even though listing is not a bar to trading in them – could be a demand-reducing ‘game changer’, thinks Vandecasteele.
As for the EUDR, the company says it has adapted procedures to meet the requirements, although much of the detail is yet to be clarified. Besides demanding proof that FERC supply is not causing deforestation or forest degradation, under the regulation supplier countries will be benchmarked high, medium and low risk. This will dictate the level of due diligence required of those who place affected goods on the EU market – or, indeed, who export them from the EU. “The text of the law is ready, but the practical guidelines won’t be until December 2024 when the new legislation will be enforced,” said Ms Standaert. “So we will
have to wait and see what is required in day-to-day business in terms of such areas as customs clearing and training and where to upload data and in what form, including how we submit geolocation information.” She added that the ‘plots of land’ for which the EUDR demands geolocation co-ordinates will be wide ranging. A ‘plot’ is defined as ‘land within a single real estate property’, so could be just a few hectares, or tens of thousands. To stay up to speed, Vandecasteele is signing up to as many webinars and presentations on the subject as possible and it is keeping suppliers informed along the way. “Tropical suppliers are certainly concerned about the EUDR and, given that the EU is still deciding on the requirements, that they will not have enough time to adapt,” said Ms Standaert. “Each time a supplier visits our company, the Regulation is a very important part of the conversation.”
The geolocation requirement is causing particular issues.
“The EU has not yet defined the exact form in which this data is to be supplied and the platform being developed for it is not ready,” said Ms Standaert. “This is a very big concern both for us buyers and our suppliers. In principle, they all want to meet the requirements and continue to do business with Europe. They just need to know how to comply.”
When the EU Timber Regulation came into force in 2013 it is reported to have reduced the pool of tropical suppliers available to the EU timber trade. But Vandecasteele believes that this experience, resulting in closer relationships between buyer and remaining suppliers, leaves it well-placed to deal with EUDR. “Under the EUTR, we’ve been working
for 10 years already with our suppliers as partners, so this gives us a real head start in comparison with the other commodities covered by the EUDR,” said Ms Standaert. Vandecasteele maintains that, while Brexit may have happened, the UK will not be immune from the impacts of the EUDR. “Even if the UK is not supporting the Regulation, its suppliers will still need to meet it as they’re probably unlikely to want to adjust their trading operations for the UK market,” said Ms Standaert. ”And for exports to the EU, UK companies will need to meet all EUDR requirements, for starters to pass through customs. Ultimately they will have to comply to the same level as their EU counterparts.” To aid EUDR compliance, Vandecasteele says gap analysis between its requirements and those of certification systems, such FSC, PEFC, OLB, Legal Source and TLV, would be a great help. It would clarify what additional actions businesses have to undertake over and above those needed to comply with these schemes.
But ultimately Vandecasteele feels the EUDR will be a positive development for the tropical timber trade. It will underline that timber production from sustainably managed tropical forests is the best guarantee of maintaining them as forests, disincentivising their clearance to make way for agro commodities. “We hope that finally the real causes of deforestation will become visible under the EUDR, and people will see that timber is not the only deforestation or forest degradation implicated commodity,” said Ms Standaert. “It should show that sustainable forest management is the only solution for our tropical forest. The phrase use it or lose it still stands!” ■
Above left: The company has set itself the objective of becoming the ‘European ambassador for sustainable timber’ Above right: Vandecasteele feels the EUDR will ultimately be a positive development for the tropical timber trade
www.ttjonline.com | November/December 2023 | TTJ
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