Antalis confirms its products are fully compliant with European Timber Regulations

 

Antalis has moved to reassure commercial print customers that its products are all fully compliant with new Regulation (EU) No 995/2010, also known as the European Timber Regulations (EUTR), which comes into force on 3rd March 2013.

The introduction of the Regulation makes it a criminal offence to place illegal timber on EU markets and all organisations affected by the regulation must implement procedures to ensure that the timber they trade and supply has been legally sourced.

The new law requires anyone handling timber or timber products, such as paper and card, to perform due diligence by assessing the risk that those products may have come from an illegal source and taking action to mitigate that risk.

It covers both operators â€" defined as anyone that places timber or timber products on the internal market â€" and traders, which includes anyone that buys or sells timber products in the course of a commercial activity, such as printers, print managers, stationers, wholesalers, shops and supermarkets.

Antalis Environment Manager Matthew Botfield said: “Following the implementation of this legislation, traders of paper products should look more carefully at how these products are sourced.

“However, Antalis customers can rest assured that all of our products are fully compliant with the new EU Timber Regulation as we have long been aware of the need to ensure that our paper and board products come from legal and well-managed sources.

“This means that we are able to provide our customers with the information required by the appointed monitoring organisation for all of our paper and board products, giving them complete peace of mind and easing their administrative burden.

The implementation of the regulation in the UK will be enforced by the National Measurement Office (NMO) which will undertake checks and ensure the enforcement of the regulation, with penalties for non-compliance. The NMO is not only concerned with the issue of illegal timber being placed on the EU market but also whether the operator has an adequate due diligence system that prevents illegal timber from being placed on the market.

While most UK businesses trading wood and paper products will not have to gather the same detailed information on timber and paper products as an ‘operator’, they do have an important role in ensuring illegal timber does not contaminate their supply chains. This is why ‘traders’ are required by the regulation to be able to identify the upstream and downstream suppliers for their timber and paper products. Information about these supplier links will enable the NMO to identify operators who may be placing non-compliant timber or paper products on the European market.

For further information visit www.antalis.co.uk.