Development and Reprecutions of EU Legislation Related to Illegal Logging

Europska Unija donijela je niz zakonskih propisa kojima se kontrolira trgovina drvom i drvnim proizvodima, s ciljem osiguranja zakonitosti tih proizvoda. Osnova takve kontrole je stavljanje odgovornosti na poduzeća (“operatore”) za zakonitost podrijetla drva i drvnih proizvoda koje prvi puta plasiraju unutar EU. Kako bi se osigurala od rizika trgovanja nezakonitim drvom i drvnim proizvodima, operatori su dužni razviti sustave dubinskog snimanja (engl. due diligence system)a1 kojima kontroliraju nabavni lanac tih proizvoda. Za poduzeća koja nemaju dovoljne kapacitete da razviju vlastiti sustav dubinskog snimanja, EU će im pomoći stvaranjem nacionalnih sustava dubinskog snimanja za koje će biti nadležne organizacije za nadzor (engl. monitoring organisations). Osnovni elementi sustava dubinskog snimanja su pristup informacijama, procjena rizika te upravljanje rizicima. Navedeni sustav kontrole definiran je Uredbom o drvu (Timber Regulation 998/2010) koja stupa na snagu 3. ožujka 2013, a Europska Komisija se obvezala definirati detalje sustava do 3. lipnja 2012. Radi smanjenja složenosti kontrole nabavnog lanca drva i drvnih proizvoda, Europska Komisija potiče bilateralne dobrovoljne partnerske ugovore (engl. Voluntary Partnership Agreements – VPA) s državama za koje je procijenjen srednji ili visok rizik od trgovine nezakonitim drvom. Takvi ugovori obuhvaćaju graničnu kontrolu zakonitosti podrijetla drva i drvnih proizvoda koji se izvoze iz partnerske države u EU. Osnova svakog VPA ugovora je nacionalna definicija legalnosti drva, koja sadrži odgovarajući zakonodavni okvir te niz poglavlja koja služe za terensku provjeru legalnosti drva i drvnih proizvoda. Kako bi VPA sustavi bili što više prihvaćeni, Europska Komisija uz suradnju mnogih međunarodnih organizacija stvara poveznice VPA sustava s dragovoljnim sustavima certifikacije u šumarstvu. Do 2020.godine bez širenja VPA sustava na Kinu i Rusiju za njegove sadašnje članice predviđa se povećanje cijena drva do 70 %. U istom vremenskom roku predviđa se povećanje proizvodnje tehničke oblovine u razvijenim državama za 4 %, te smanjenje njezine proizvodnje u državama u razvoju od 8 %. Čak niti široka prihvaćenost VPA sustava neće osigurati uspjeh provedbe Uredbe o drvu, jer se kontrola zakonitosti drva može izbjeći putem posredne trgovine s EU preko država koje nemaju VPA ugovor. Nakon ulaska u EU Republika Hrvatska morat će razviti vlastiti nacionalni sustav dubinskog snimanja, u kojemu posebna pozornost treba biti posvećena drvu iz privatnih šuma, te drvu uvezenom iz trećih država. Ako Hrvatske šume d.o.o. i dalje budu posjedovale FSC certifikat, kontrola zakonitosti drva iz državnih šuma bit će uvelike olakšana, te će se za njih sustav dubinskog snimanja većinom svesti na već postojeći standard “kontroliranog” drva.EU has made a series of legislative acts by which the control of trade of wood and wood based products is introduced, all in order to ensure the legality of these products. The basis of this control system is placing the responsibility for the legality of these products on the companies (“operators”) that are first to place wood and wood based products on the EU market. In order to secure themselves from the risk of placing illegal products on the market the operators should develop a due diligence system by which the legality of the chain of custody of these products would be controlled. For operators that do not have sufficient capacities to develop their own due diligence system the EU is set to help them by assigning monitoring organizations to develop national due diligence systems. Basic elements of the due diligence systems are access to information, risk assessment and risk mitigation. This control system is defined by the Timber regulation (EC, 998/2010), which is valid from March the 3rd, 2013. The European Commission has made a commitment do define the specificities of the system by June 3rd, 2012. In order to simplify the control of chain of custody, the EU endorses bilateral voluntary partnership agreements (VPA’s) with partner countries for which exists a medium or high level of risk of illegal logging. Such agreements encompass border control of origin of wood or wood based products which are exported from the partner county to the EU. The core of every VPA is the definition of the legality of wood, which encompasses the respective legislative framework and a series of chapters which serve as a basis for field audits. In order to broaden the acceptance of VPA’s the European Commission in cooperation with many international organizations promotes building connections between the VPA’s and voluntary certification systems in forestry. It is expected that without spreading of VPA’s to China and Russia the current partner countries will have bare an increase in timber prices of 70% by 2020. Within the same time period it is also expected that the production of roundwood in developed countries will increase by 4%, and that it will decrease by 8% in the developing countries. Even a broad expectance of VPA’s cannot ensure the success of implementation of the Timber regulation, because the control of legality of wood can be circumvented by trading it with EU via a third country that does not have a VPA. After its accession to the EU the Republic of Croatia will have to develop its own due diligence system, in which special care should be attributed to wood coming from private forests and to imported wood. If Hrvatske šume Ltd. continues on to be FSC certified, the control of legality of wood coming from state owned forests will be simplified, and will mostly fall under the already existing “controlled wood” standard