History

In the past few decades, there has been a growing concern over the state of the world’s forests, and over the trade in illegal timber. Recognition of the need to ensure sustainable management of forests has been reflected both internationally and domestically.

At the 1992 Rio Summit, a series of principles for sustainable forest use were developed under the title The Statement on Forest Principles . These principles are non-legally binding, though they represent the first global consensus on forests. In 1998, as a result of a G8 foreign ministers meeting in Birmingham, the Action Plan For Forests was launched.  It determined five key areas that needed to be addressed in order to achieve sustainable forest management: 1) monitoring and assessment; 2) national forest programmes; 3) protected areas; 4) private sector; and 5) illegal logging. More recently, the first-ever G8 environment and development ministerial meeting in 2005 further committed G8 countries to addressing both the supply and demand for illegal timber. Ministers agreed to take steps to halt the import and marketing of illegally logged timber, do more to support developing countries’ own efforts to enforce forest law and improve governance and use government procurement to ensure that governments do not contribute to the problem of illegal logging.

One of the UK’s responses to these concerns is a procurement policy on timber and timber products, announced in July 2000. This policy requires all Government departments and their agencies to actively seek to buy timber and paper products from legal and sustainable sources. An inter-departmental buyers’ group was established to advise on and monitor performance, and central Government departments and their executive agencies began to apply the policy. However, it was soon clear that additional support and guidance would be needed for the policy to be implemented successfully.

A scoping study to define the contract and variant specifications for legal and sustainable timber was undertaken in 2002. This report also recommended the establishment of the Central Point of Expertise on Timber (CPET) to provide government procurement personnel with information and advice to support the implementation of the policy.

Phase 1 of CPET, completed in November 2004, was a study that assessed five certification schemes identified by government procurement staff as the most commonly encountered in the UK wood supply chain. The study determined which of the schemes deliver UK Government requirements for legal and sustainable timber. A re-assessment was undertaken in the spring and summer of 2005, after changes were made to two of the certification schemes. Further deatils are available in the Technical methodology section of the website.

Following the completion of Phase 1, a pilot project ran from November 2004 to April 2005. The pilot provided assistance, support and guidance to a sample group of government departments and agencies selected by Defra. Participants in the pilot project included the Home Office, HMPS, the NHS (through the Queens Medical Centre NHS Trust), the Scottish Executive, the Heritage Lottery Fund, Caerphilly County Borough Council and Cardiff University. Information was provided to participants through documented guidance, training and seminars, telephone and email. The pilot served as an interim measure between the completion of Phase 1 and the initiation of Phase 2, and provided information used in planning Phase 2. Phase 2 was launched in August 2005 when the CPET Helpline opened. Soon after, the CPET website came online. CPET currently offers a range of services, aimed at government procurement personnel and their suppliers.