The Commission has published a staff working document related to the Summary of the Impact Assessment of additional options to combat illegal logging related to the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council determining the obligations of operators who make timber and timber products available on the market (COM(2008) 644 final - SEC(2008) 2615).

The European Community policy regarding illegal logging and related trade was set out in the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan which includes a number of measures to ensure that timber and wood products imported into the EU have been legally harvested or manufactured from legally harvested timber.

One of the key measures proposed by the Action Plan is a licensing scheme for the prevention of illegal logging and related trade coming into the European Union (EU). The licensing scheme would be implemented as part of the Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs), which are being negotiated with a number of countries.

A total of five options have been identified, compared to the "baseline" scenario (continuation present FLEGT VPA approach).
(1)    Expansion of the FLEGT VPA approach.
(2)    Voluntary measures by the private sector further developed.
(3)    Border measures to prevent the importation of illegally harvested timber.
(4)    Prohibition on the placing on the EU market of illegally harvested timber.

• Sub-option 4A: Legislation which prohibits the trading and possession of timber and timber products harvested in breach of the laws of the country of origin (i.e. where trees harvested).
• Sub-option 4B: Legislation which requires that only legally harvested timber and timber products be placed on the marke.

(5)    Legislation which requires due diligence by all timber traders to ensure that they trade in legally harvested timber.