The European Commission today endorsed the first two Monitoring Organisations envisaged to play a key role in aiding companies to comply with the EU Timber Regulation. Businesses can now team up with EU-endorsed NEPCon to stay on the right side of the law.
Today, NEPCon received formal recognition as Monitoring Organisation (MO). NEPCon is thus one of the two first bodies recognised as competent to aid companies in complying with the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR).
The role of the MOs is to help EU operators fulfil their obligations by providing a due diligence system for legal timber sourcing and conducting regular evaluation of the users’ system implementation.
Choosing to work with an MO is voluntary and does not exempt the company from liability. The main benefit for companies of engaging with an MO is the help in navigating the EUTR, safe in the knowledge that they can trust the quality of the provided system as well as the due diligence evaluations.
Timber legality expertise in high demand
As a basis for making its decision, the EU has reviewed NEPCon’s LegalSourceTM Due Diligence System as well as the organisation’s competence for conducting performance evaluations.
“The EC’s recognition of the quality and robustness of our due diligence system is good news not only for us, but also for the companies we work with. We have taken great efforts to ensure that our system is user-friendly whilst being aligned with the EUTR and other legal frameworks of key timber markets”, comments Executive Director of NEPCon Peter Feilberg.
NEPCon’s system has been tested by several leading industries and used as the framework for developing the due diligence system that the European Timber Trade Federation (ETTF) shares with its members.
Mr Feilberg continues, “There is great demand for professional expertise on legal timber sourcing. We are presently experiencing a surge of interest in our due diligence evaluation services and timber legality training events across the EU and in supplier markets”. To date, hundreds of corporate and public sector organisations have tapped into NEPCon’s timber legality expertise.
The EUTR is a game-changer
The strong growth in timber certification schemes such as FSC over the past decade underlines the industry’s commitment to responsible timber sourcing. Yet illegal products still abound in global timber markets.
Mr Feilberg anticipates the regulation will be a game-changer due to the size of the EU timber market: “We have experienced the greatest influx of FSC certification customers in our history over the past year. We believe this is mainly a response to the EUTR. We are committed to helping companies with their due diligence efforts and turn the challenges posed by the regulation into benefits for the European industry”.
Global services
As part of the organisation’s pursuit to provide global solutions, NEPCon provides its legality services in collaboration with the Rainforest Alliance, enabling service delivery worldwide through an extensive network of representatives and auditors.
