News & Blogs

Today BVRio Environmental Exchange launched the Responsible Timber Exchange, a trading platform seeking to assist traders and buyers of timber exercise due diligence through an integrated risk assessment system.

A recent survey by the research institute Forest Trends has provided the first systematic and publicly available assessment of the scale and type of enforcement activities under the European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) and the Australian Illegal Logging Prohibition Act and Regulation.

The illegal timber trade creates problems for everyone. Governments lose valuable revenue and natural resources. So governments and businesses are starting to do more to improve timber traceability, including adopting new and existing technologies that can help track timber, manage information, and eventually, help combat illegal logging.

On the heels of Lumber Liquidator’s $13.5 million settlement with the Department of Justice on Customs Law and Lacey Act violations, the International Wood Products Association (IWPA) has launched a nationwide due care training program for wood trade professionals to help them establish standard operating procedures to comply with the Lacey Act.

Au Congo, une plateforme a été développée afin de rendre publiques les informations sur l'exploitation forestière et autres éléments clés du plan d'Action FLEGT : la plateforme FTI-FLEGT.

The Presidents of Indonesia, the European Commission and the European Council today confirmed that Indonesia has met the final major requirement of its Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the EU and is on course to become the world’s first country to issue FLEGT licences.

The European Commission (EC) recently released a report that evaluates the first two years of implementation of the EU Timber Regulation, which went into effect on March 3, 2013. Since then, some Member States have developed guidance and campaigns to publicize the requirements of the regulation and taken action against operators who are not in compliance.

The World Resources Institute's Forest Legality Initiative is hiring! See below for details on the three available positions.

On March 8th, the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), using information provided by Greenpeace, filed a formal report on non-compliance with the public prosecutor about a Dutch timber importer who has breached the European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR).

The 14th semi-annual membership meeting of the Forest Legality Alliance took place in December 2015. It was attended by 104 people from 78 different companies, NGOs, and government bodies and lively discussion was held on three main topics: timber legality in the Congo Basin, updates on the Lacey Act in the guitar industry, and the recent Lumber Liquidators Lacey Act case. Short summaries are below.