National Hardwood Magazine - September 2022

AHEC REPORT
NEW EU “ANTI-DEFORESTATION” LEGISLATION HAS THE
POTENTIAL TO SEVERELY RESTRICT U.S. HARDWOOD
EXPORTS TO THE EUROPEAN UNION AND BEYOND
Proposed “geolocation” requirement would discriminate
against small nonindustrial operators
WE ARE GRAF BROTHERS
The world’s largest manufacturer of
rift & quarter sawn white oak products
The new EU Anti Deforestation legislation,
first presented as a draft in November
of last year, is still passing through the EU
law-making process, but this is happening
more quickly than expected for such a complex,
not to mention controversial law. In order
to pass, the law must be agreed upon
by consensus between both the EU Council
of Ministers and the European Parliament.
On June 28, the EU Council of Ministers –
which represents the governments of all 27
EU Member States – did in fact agree on the
draft text. It now only needs to be agreed by
the European Parliament (which is usually
more inclined than the Council to implement far-reaching
environmental measures). A vote may take place as early
as September.
In principle, this is just the sort of law that AHEC and
the U.S. Hardwood sector would wish to support. It aims
to remove products from deforested land from the EU
market. Any form of deforestation is anathema to an industry
such as ours that is built on the sustainable use
of Hardwood forests and one which is most directly
threatened by conversion of these same forests to other
uses. The preamble to the legislation makes clear that
the major driver of deforestation is not demand for wood
products, but that “agricultural expansion
drives 90 percent of global deforestation.”
The law is, in theory, built on the concept of
risk-based due diligence pioneered by AHEC
in the Seneca Creek studies and which was
the foundation of the EU Timber Regulation
(EUTR). It extends this powerful concept to
control trade beyond timber to include agricultural
commodities most implicated in deforestation
– beef, soy, palm oil, and coffee.
The need to develop mechanisms to avoid
discrimination against smaller producers and
landowners is clearly stated in the preamble
to the law. Unfortunately, in its current draft
the law falls short of that lofty goal.
One aspect of this law in particular would be a major
obstacle for U.S. Hardwood product exports to the EU as
well as for many small non-industrial operators across
the globe: a requirement to provide “geolocation” data
for the specific “plot(s) of land” from where all regulated
material (including wood) contained in products placed
on the EU market is sourced.
In contrast to the current EU Timber Regulation, where
products only need to be tracked beyond “country of harvest”
where there is risk of illegality, Article 9 of the draft
Regulation requires that operators collect information on
We have the experience, the capacity and state-of-the-art
manufacturing equipment to handle all your White Oak needs.
PARTNER WITH THE ORIGINAL GRAF BROTHERS!
Please turn to page 74
BY MICHAEL SNOW,
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
AMERICAN HARDWOOD EXPORT COUNCIL,
STERLING, VA
703-435-2900
WWW.AHEC.ORG
20 SEPTEMBER 2022 n NATIONAL HARDWOOD MAGAZINE www.RealAmericanHardwood.org
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