Five years of experience with EU timber regulation and the Thuenen Centre of Competence on the Origin of Timber
Five years ago, in March 2013, the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) came into force. At the same time, the “Thünen Centre of Competence on the Origin of Timber” was founded at the Thünen Institute in Hamburg/Germany. Since then, the Centre has successfully processed more than 3,000 test orders for the anatomical identification of wood species (equivalent to around 35,000 individual samples). In addition, nearly 1,500 wood samples were submitted for the genetic verification of the wood species and / or origin. The expertise now also extends to the analyses of fibreboard, paper and charcoal. In addition, the Center has expertise in assessing certificates and trading channels. Based on this interdisciplinary work, the Centre has been established as central contact facility for government agencies, timber traders, consumers and associations. On the occasion of the 5-year “double jubilee”, the Thünen Institute and the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture invite to a conference on 8th /9th October 2018 in Hamburg to look back on the experiences learned so far in order to look forward on how to proceed successfully. GTTN will be involved in dicussions with ITTO, the European Commission (in the framework of the FLEGT plan), and US American authorities on the second day, targeting international audiences.
You can check out the programme here.
Please register via www.bmel.de/eutr2018