Is your company able to show where its timber is sourced? European legislation and a growing requirement for sustainability accreditations are making the traceability of the timber supply chain of increasingly high importance.
Two courses, being held in the coming weeks, aim to help furniture manufacturers, suppliers, retailers and specifiers comply with the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) and implement Chain of Custody systems to achieve FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification).
“Today, timber supply chains are long and complex and as a result are difficult to trace to source, often stretching across many countries. The EUTR has been in place for nearly a year and I urge anyone that hasn’t checked their responsibilities to make it a priority before penalties for non-compliance are enforced.” said James Bell, Environmental Consultant at FIRA International and an expert in sustainability for the furniture industry.
The Chain of Custody and EU Timber Regulation Awareness training courses are run by furniture industry experts at FIRA. Established sixty years ago, FIRA has unparalleled industry knowledge, raising performance throughout the furniture supply chain by offering research, information, testing, consultancy, customer service and after sales service to the furniture and DIY markets.
He continued: “The EUTR requires all timber to have a traceable source to ensure it has not been illegally harvested, but just because timber has been acquired legally doesn’t mean that it is from a sustainable source. Chain of Custody certification goes one step further than EUTR, it offers full traceability through all stages of the supply chain and provides verification that timber originates from well managed forests as well as helping to prove the legality of the timber. We work with companies of all sizes to help them to understand how to comply with the EUTR and put in place systems to achieve sustainability credentials.”
Introduced in March 2013, the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) prohibits placing illegally harvested timber and timber products onto the EU market. One year on, the Regulation is still a source of concern for many businesses within the furniture supply chain. The one-day EUTR Awareness course, run by FIRA International, aims to assist the industry in understanding and meeting their legal obligations when importing, selling and trading timber and timber products in the European Union.
The one-day Chain of Custody Awareness Workshop will help delegates to understand how to develop and implement a Chain of Custody system to meet the requirements of both the FSC and PEFC standards, which will also provide a key mechanism for timber legality assurance.
For further information, or to register a place on the course, please contact James Bell via telephone +44 (0) 1438 777 700 or email [email protected].
Alternatively, book online at www.fira.co.uk/training.
Bespoke training and technical services are also available on request.
