Regulation (EU) No 995/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 laying down the obligations of operators who place timber and timber products on the market (Text with EEA relevance)Text with EEA relevance

• Coming into Force: 01 January 2020
• Published date: 01 January 2020
• Date: 01 January 2020
• Celex Number: 02010R0995-20200101
• ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2010/995/2020-01-01
• Court: Provisional data,Vorläufige Daten

02010R0995 — EN — 01.01.2020 — 001.001

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This text is meant purely as a documentation tool and has no legal effect. The Union's institutions do not assume any liability for its contents. The authentic versions of the relevant acts, including their preambles, are those published in the Official Journal of the European Union and available in EUR-Lex. Those official texts are directly accessible through the links embedded in this document

►B REGULATION (EU) No 995/2010 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 20 October 2010 laying down the obligations of operators who place timber and timber products on the market (Text with EEA relevance) (OJ L 295 12.11.2010, p. 23)

Amended by:

		Official Journal
		No	page	date
►M1	REGULATION (EU) 2019/1010 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 5 June 2019	L 170	115	25.6.2019

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▼B

REGULATION (EU) No 995/2010 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 20 October 2010

laying down the obligations of operators who place timber and timber products on the market

(Text with EEA relevance)

Article 1

Subject matter

This Regulation lays down the obligations of operators who place timber and timber products on the internal market for the first time, as well as the obligations of traders.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) ‘timber and timber products’ means the timber and timber products set out in the Annex, with the exception of timber products or components of such products manufactured from timber or timber products that have completed their lifecycle and would otherwise be disposed of as waste, as defined in Article 3(1) of Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste ( 1 ),

(b) ‘placing on the market’ means the supply by any means, irrespective of the selling technique used, of timber or timber products for the first time on the internal market for distribution or use in the course of a commercial activity, whether in return for payment or free of charge. It also includes the supply by means of distance communication as defined in Directive 97/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 1997 on the protection of consumers in respect of distance contracts ( 2 ). The supply on the internal market of timber products derived from timber or timber products already placed on the internal market shall not constitute ‘placing on the market’;

(c) ‘operator’ means any natural or legal person that places timber or timber products on the market;

(d) ‘trader’ means any natural or legal person who, in the course of a commercial activity, sells or buys on the internal market timber or timber products already placed on the internal market;

(e) ‘country of harvest’ means the country or territory where the timber or the timber embedded in the timber products was harvested;

(f) ‘legally harvested’ means harvested in accordance with the applicable legislation in the country of harvest;

(g) ‘illegally harvested’ means harvested in contravention of the applicable legislation in the country of harvest;

(h) ‘applicable legislation’ means the legislation in force in the country of harvest covering the following matters:

— rights to harvest timber within legally gazetted boundaries,

— payments for harvest rights and timber including duties related to timber harvesting,

— timber harvesting, including environmental and forest legislation including forest management and biodiversity conservation, where directly related to timber harvesting,

— third parties’ legal rights concerning use and tenure that are affected by timber harvesting, and

— trade and customs, in so far as the forest sector is concerned.

Article 3

Status of timber and timber products covered by FLEGT and CITES

Timber embedded in timber products listed in Annexes II and III to Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005 which originate in partner countries listed in Annex I to that Regulation and which comply with that Regulation and its implementing provisions shall be considered to have been legally harvested for the purposes of this Regulation.

Timber of species listed in Annex A, B or C to Regulation (EC) No 338/97 and which complies with that Regulation and its implementing provisions shall be considered to have been legally harvested for the purposes of this Regulation.

Article 4

Obligations of operators

1. The placing on the market of illegally harvested timber or timber products derived from such timber shall be prohibited.

2. Operators shall exercise due diligence when placing timber or timber products on the market. To that end, they shall use a framework of procedures and measures, hereinafter referred to as a ‘due diligence system’, as set out in Article 6.

3. Each operator shall maintain and regularly evaluate the due diligence system which it uses, except where the operator makes use of a due diligence system established by a monitoring organisation referred to in Article 8. Existing supervision systems under national legislation and any voluntary chain of custody mechanism which fulfil the requirements of this Regulation may be used as a basis for the due diligence system.

Article 5

Obligation of traceability

Traders shall, throughout the supply chain, be able to identify:

(a) the operators or the traders who have supplied the timber and timber products; and

(b) where applicable, the traders to whom they have supplied timber and timber products.

Traders shall keep the information referred to in the first paragraph for at least five years and shall provide that information to competent authorities if they so request.

Article 6

Due diligence systems

1. The due diligence system referred to in Article 4(2) shall contain the following elements:

(a) measures and procedures providing access to the following information concerning the operator’s supply of timber or timber products placed on the market:

— description, including the trade name and type of product as well as the common name of tree species and, where applicable, its full scientific name,

— country of harvest, and where applicable:

—

(i) sub-national region where the timber was harvested; and

(ii) concession of harvest,

— quantity (expressed in volume, weight or number of units),

— name and address of the supplier to the operator,

— name and address of the trader to whom the timber and timber products have been supplied,

— documents or other information indicating compliance of those timber and timber products with the applicable legislation;

(b) risk assessment procedures enabling the operator to analyse and evaluate the risk of illegally harvested timber or timber products derived from such timber being placed on the market.

Such procedures shall take into account the information set out in point (a) as well as relevant risk assessment criteria, including:

— assurance of compliance with applicable legislation, which may include certification or other third-party-verified schemes which cover compliance with applicable legislation,

— prevalence of illegal harvesting of specific tree species,

— prevalence of illegal harvesting or practices in the country of harvest and/or sub-national region where the timber was harvested, including consideration of the prevalence of armed conflict,

— sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council or the Council of the European Union on timber imports or exports,

— complexity of the supply chain of timber and timber products.

(c) except where the risk identified in course of the risk assessment procedures referred to in point (b) is negligible, risk mitigation procedures which consist of a set of measures and procedures that are adequate and proportionate to minimise effectively that risk and which may include requiring additional information or documents and/or requiring third party verification.

2. Detailed rules necessary to ensure the uniform implementation of paragraph 1, except as regards further relevant risk assessment criteria referred to in the second sentence of paragraph 1(b) of this Article, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 18(2). Those rules shall be adopted by 3 June 2012.

3. Taking into account market developments and the experience gained in the implementation of this Regulation, in particular as identified through the exchange of information referred to in Article 13 and the reporting referred to in Article 20(3), the Commission may adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU as regards further relevant risk assessment criteria that may be necessary to supplement those referred to in the second sentence of paragraph 1(b) of this Article with a view to ensuring the effectiveness of the due diligence...