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Illegal Logging has a devastating impact on some of the world’s most valuable forests. It can have not only serious environmental, but also economic and social consequences. Europe’s response to the problem is reflected in the FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) Action Plan of the European Union. The EU FLEGT Action Plan provides a number of measures to exclude illegal timber from markets, to improve the supply of legal timber and to increase the demand for responsible wood products.

A central element of the EU’s strategy to combat illegal logging are trade accords with timber exporting countries, known as Voluntary Partnership Agreements, to ensure legal timber trade and support good forest governance in the partner countries. As a second element, the EU created legislation to ban illegally-produced wood products from the EU market, known as the  EU Timber Regulation. This website provides information on the various FLEGT policy areas and activities of the European Union and its partner countries to tackle illegal logging.

Latest news

European statistics on timber trade track imports from VPA countries

Eurostat has published trade data on wood products imported to the European Union from countries that are negotiating or implementing a VPA.

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14.05.2013 Thailand to start VPA negotiations with the EU

Thailand will soon begin negotiating a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the European Union.

10.05.2013 EU programme used to offer regional support of VPAs in Africa

The EU is using its regional programme ECOFAC 5, which focuses on fragile ecosystems, to promote FLEGT throughout the Economic Community of Central African States.

02.05.2013 Joint Implementation Committee agrees on work plans for implementing the VPA in Congo

The first meeting of the Joint Implementation Committee of the Republic of the Congo and the EU took place on 30 April, following technical discussions.

22.04.2013 Independent evaluation of Indonesia’s legality assurance system gets underway

The independent evaluation of Indonesia’s timber legality assurance system (known as the SVLK) was officially launched on 16 April. A team of four consultants has been appointed by EFI and the UK co-funded Multi-stakeholder Forestry Programme, or MFP, to assess whether the system’s structure and operation meet the requirements set out in the VPA.