The traceability of the timber we use at Nicklin has always been of a huge importance to us.
Illegal logging and deforestation is both environmentally disastrous and economically unviable when it comes to the long-term supply of sustainable timber.
As well as leading to a significant loss of biodiversity, illegal logging also disrupts markets and drives down the price of timber, hampering efforts to implement sustainable forest management.
The EUDR is a new European regulation addressing the problem of deforestation and degradation associated with certain commodities and aims to encourage the creation of a ‘deforestation-free’ market in Europe and globally
The EUDR has an implementation date of December 31 2024, and while there is significant support from across the timber industry for the new legislation, there remain a number of questions around what it means for UK businesses exporting to the EU, and their supply chain, as well as the proposed timeframe for the implementation.
EUDR obligations
From the beginning of 2025, companies with 250 employees or more cannot lawfully place cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soya or wood (or products made from these raw materials) on the EU market if they are not from a deforestation-free area and a due diligence statement has not been submitted to the EU.
Compliance will be much more than a box-ticking exercise – the EUDR will require operators to carry out rigorous analysis of their supply chains to guarantee that products they introduce into the market, or export, do not contribute to deforestation and they are obtained and produced with the full respect of the regulations of the countries of origin.
Amongst other data, the EUDR mandates that operators and large traders must provide geo-location co-ordinates of the land where the relevant commodities and products are produced in their due diligence statement, confirming compliance prior to import and export within the EU.
It is important to note that the EUDR is specific to the EU and does not apply directly to the UK.
The UK government has proposed to introduce similar due diligence through the UK Environment Act to address deforestation, although this proposal does not include timber products as the UK Timber Regulation (UKTR), which was implemented in January 2021 to replace the EU Timber Regulation following Brexit, currently remains in effect.
The UKTR restricts the trade in illegal timber entering the UK and businesses across the UK are required to continue to implement a system of due diligence to ensure imported timber products have been legally harvested, traded, and exported in the country of harvest.
Nevertheless, even if timber products manufactured in the UK and are compliant under UKTR regulations, they will only be compliant under EUDR if they meet the due diligence requirements.
According to FEFPEB, which represents manufacturers of timber packaging across Europe, packaging cases, boxes, crates, drums, cable drums of wood, box pallets, are all covered by the obligations set out in EUDR if they are placed on the market or exported as products in their own right.
However, the regulation focuses on commodities entering the EU market for sale and so products used exclusively as packing material to support, protect or carry another product placed on the market may not covered by EUDR.
While timber packaging is not the primary target of the EUDR, due diligence may still apply to ensure the timber is not sourced from regions at risk from deforestation and so until further clarification is received on this matter, it will remain good practice for timber packaging suppliers to be able to confirm the legal and sustainable sourcing of the timber to avoid any potential future liability.
Timeframe for implementation
One of the main challenges around EUDR is that its implementation under the current timeframes is onerous to the point of being almost impossible.
According to a letter to the EU Commission from a range of European trade organisations covering the sawmill, panel, woodworking and packaging sectors, the EUDR obligations need to be implemented in a shorter timeframe than has ever been imposed on any industrial sector affected by comparable legislation.
The letter states that impact will be that these deadlines are unlikely to be met and the new EUDR benchmarking rules will be deprived of any effectiveness and will not fulfil the stated objective of reducing the regulatory burden for operators and traders.
The lack of clarity in terms of the obligations along the supply chain has also seen the publication of 86 responses to industry queries with another 40 expected soon.
Why you can trust Nicklin
As an industry we are continuing to push for more clarity around EUDR, and from our perspective, we want to ensure that we are able to support our customers to ensure that they are EUDR compliant if they are trading with the EU.
While delays to the implementation of the EUDR are not unlikely, the legislation itself will not be amended so it is vital that all companies that are trading with the EU are confident that they have the right compliance framework in place as soon as possible.
Under the terms of the UKTR legislation, Nicklin already adheres to the highest standards when it comes to using sustainably sourced timber.
Adding an additional layer of data such as geo locations to our existing due diligence is a relatively straightforward process for products sourced from plantations with well-defined boundaries, such as those from certified forests.
Nicklin is both FSC® (FSC® C104797) and PEFC (PEFC/16-33-2126) certified and whilst neither are mandatory under the EUDR, they are recognised as valuable tools for demonstrating compliance with the EUDR legality, sustainability and traceability requirements.
As the requirements of EUDR clearer, we look forward to working with all our customers to ensure they have the right processes in place to be able to continue to meet all their obligations going forward.
