Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to prevent illegally-harvested timber and endangered hardwoods being imported into the UK.

In March 2013 the Timber and Timber Products (Placing on the Market) Regulations were introduced in the UK. The regulations implement the EU Timber Regulation, which aims to prevent the trade of illegally harvested timber in the EU by:

• prohibiting the placing of illegally harvested timber and timber products on the EU market for the first time;
• requiring operators who place timber products on the market for the first time to exercise ‘due diligence'; and
• requiring traders to keep records of their suppliers and customers in order to facilitate the traceability of timber products through the supply chain.

The UK also provides financial and in-country support to the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) process between the EU and timber producing countries under the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan. Once VPAs are in operation, EU-bound timber exports will be issued with FLEGT licences which guarantee the timber's legality.

In addition, the import of a number of endangered hardwood species into the UK is controlled under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) licensing system. The system aims to ensure that international trade does not threaten the survival of endangered species and is implemented in the EU by the Wildlife Trade Regulations.