There is no place for illegal wood in Europe. That was the message of environment MEPs last week, in adopting, nearly unanimously (49 in favour, six against, two abstentions), the draft report of UK Green Caroline Lucas.rnMEPs at the 4 May Committee on Environment, Food Safety and Public Health also said that operators placing timber on the market for the first time should comply with a rigorous "due diligence" system, since they have a particular responsibility for products entering the EU market. MEPs also voted in favour of a:rn1. system of sanctions penalising companies that break the law reflecting the degree of environmental and economic damage and proportional to the value of timber products;rn2. control system to minimise the risk of illegal wood ending up on the market, complemented by traceability requirements allowing buyers to pin down where woodrncomes from and whether it was legally harvested; and a:rn3. robust definition of legally produced wood that takes into account forest management and laws.
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