The Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) welcomed the strong political commitment of the European Parliament to address the issue of illegal logging in Europe shown in its vote today on the Caroline Lucas report. However the European pulp and paper industries are already active in this field and have systems in place to ensure the legality of wood used in Europe today.

CEPI, has developed a voluntarily code of conduct which has been endorsed by all of its members and which ensures that chain of custody, traceability and tracking systems are in place. This initiative has already minimised the imports of illegal wood into the EU and the industry is committed to maintain its stringent approach to ensure this continues.

“This vote shows the importance of the issue to the EUs political commitment to good forest governance. The Pulp and paper industry also takes its responsibility in this field very seriously” said Bernard de Galembert, Forest director at CEPI. “For the result of this vote to be successful we need to ensure that the final text of this legislation is proportionate and ensures effectiveness whilst recognising the work already being done and the systems currently in place” he added.

“WWF in its report Illegal Wood for the European Market (July 2008) acknowledged the work being done by our industry to help combat illegal logging and recognised that our tracking systems are among the most efficient currently available” he continued.

“The figures quoted by Caroline Lucas today concerning the volume of illegal wood entering the EU seem high and we are convinced that estimating the quantity of illegal timber used by the EU is extremely difficult but believe that the voluntary measures taken by the industry will lead inevitably to a significant decrease.” He concluded.

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For more information, please contact Bernard de Galembert, CEPI Forest and research Director, at b.degalembert@cepi.org or +32 2 627 49 27