FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL SERVICE
U.S. MISSION TO THE EUROPEAN UNION

 Last update: September 14, 2006

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In June 2006 the European Commission adopted an EU Forest Action Plan (FAP) to demonstrate its commitment to enhancing sustainable forest management. The Action Plan focuses on four main objectives: to improve long-term competitiveness, to improve and protect the environment, to contribute to the quality of life and to foster communication and coordination. The Commission also proposes key actions to be implemented jointly over the five year period, 2007-2011. The FAP is received positively from industry and stakeholders. However the Confederation of European paper Industries says the action plan seems rather weak as it relies mostly on Member States to take action and limits the role of the Commission. GAIN report E36120

- EU Forest Strategy Criticized, Commission Proposes Action Plan": The European Court of Auditors (ECA) has criticized the EU Forestry Strategy objectives saying they are often contradictory, expensive and not delivering significant results.  The European Commission proposes to step up its efforts on forestry and proposes to prepare an EU Action Plan for sustainable forest management.  The Action Plan is to be presented in 2006.  GAIN report E35062

 - Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT): The EU has determined that illegal logging is a growing problem especially in developing country markets and is concerned about the environmental damage it causes in developing countries. Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) is the European Unions attempt to deal with this problem by developing voluntary partnership agreements with timber producing countries that have a problem with illegal logging.  GAIN report E35004 (Jan. 2005)

"FLEGT Regulation adopted" - GAIN report E36004 (Jan. 2006)

Council Regulation 2173/2005 on the establishment of a FLEGT licensing scheme for imports of timber into the EU

 - European Commission Review of the Forest Strategy: The European Commission has presented a "Draft Commission Staff Working Document" on the implementation of the EU Forest Strategy. This document is an evaluation of the EU forest strategy that was published in 1998. The Consultation was presented in an attempt to get input from stakeholders from all over EU-25. The summary report is to be presented in the beginning of 2005. This report presents an overview of the forestry sector in the European Union.  GAIN report E34102

 - Sustainable forestry and the European Union: The European Commission recently published a report "Sustainable Forestry and the European Union - Initiatives of the European Commission", giving an overview of ongoing EU actions and activities related to the forest sector. GAIN report E23191
 
 - EU Action Plan to combat illegal logging: The European Commission published the EU Action Plan for Forest Law Enforcement, establishing a process and a package of measures through which they intend to tackle the problem of illegal logging and related trade. GAIN report E23087
 
 - EU Bans Arsenic in Wood E23010