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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to reduce the import of any hardwood timber from tropical forests.

The import of hardwood timber from tropical forests is governed by a robust regulatory framework.

The EU Timber Regulation prevents the import of illegally-harvested timber into the EU by laying down obligations on operators who place timber and timber products on the market and those who subsequently trade in them. It was implemented in the UK by the Timber and Timber Products (Placing on the Market) Regulations in March 2013.

The UK supports the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) process between the EU and timber producing countries, many of which contain tropical forests, under the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan. The VPA process helps timber producing countries to stop illegal logging by driving improvements in the regulation and governance of the forest sector. Once in operation, VPAs will ensure that timber and timber products exported to the EU come from legal sources.

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.