Denmark

In February 2006 the Environment minister Connie Hedegaard launched a 9-point-plan for public purchase of legal and sustainable timber in Denmark, which expanded the existing policy for tropical timber to cover all timber products, regardless of origin. According to the policy, all public institutions should buy legal and sustainable timber. The policy covers both wood and paper products.

Under the Danish Environmental Protection Act, each central government institution is obliged to develop its own green procurement policy as well as an action plan for its implementation, which effectively makes the timber procurement policy voluntary. However, some products such as office furniture and office paper are covered by binding agreements for all state purchase of such goods. The current contracts stipulate that timber products should be legally produced. More products are expected to fall under such contracts in future. Requirements on timber are in each case considered and included in accordance with the actual possibilities in the market place.

The Danish government uses certification schemes as a way to demonstrate compliance with the government policy. A guide on public purchase of tropical timber was published in 2003 in which FSC and MTCC were found to deliver legal and sustainable and legal and progressing to sustainable respectively. Danish government is now, after having expanded its procurement policy to cover all kinds of timber, working on an update and revision of criteria for legality and sustainability, and subsequent assessment of certification schemes. Other types of evidence will also be considered, which will be similar to the UK Category B evidence.

The Danish Forest and Nature Agency maintains a website with information on the timber procurement policy, which includes the following guidance documents:

Temporary guidelines for public procurement of timber - legality assurance  (in English)

Purchasing tropical timber - Environmental guidelines (Valid until revised and updated guidance according to new criteria has been provided) (in English)

Contact information

Christian Lundmark Jensen

Co-ordinator on International Forest Policy, Danish Forest and Nature Agency    

Tel: (+45) 3947 2602 (direct)  Mobile: (+45) 2078 1014

Email: clj@sns.dk

General contact:

Ministry of the Environment

Danish Forest and Nature Agency

Haraldsgade 53

DK - 2100  København Ø

Tel: +45 39 47 20 00  Fax: +45 39 27 98 99

Email: sns@sns.dk

 www.skovognatur.dk                

Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information on existing national timber procurement policies, we recommend checking with the national procurement policy contacts for the most up to date information.