International policies

There have been numerous calls for more harmonised national procurement policies for timber, in order to effectively mobilise market forces. In order to address these calls, the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium has collaborated and exchanged experiences on timber procurement, and considered opportunities for developing more harmonised approaches to definitions of legal and sustainable timber and to requirements for documentation. Other interested governments have been kept informed and are encouraged to participate too. In Spring 2008 the four countries decided to develop a common framework to compare the (draft or final) national criteria for legal and sustainable timber and for assessment of certifications schemes, see Comparative study of Danish, UK, Dutch and Belgium national criteria.

For each of the countries listed below, a summary of the Government timber procurement policy and relevant contact details is available. Please select from the list below to view the detailed country pages:

If you are representing a Government that wishes to have information on its timber procurement policy included on this page, please email cpet@proforest.net or call (+44) 1865 243 766 .

Links

Comparative matrix of procurement policies  1 Sep 2007

Gardiner in Japan and USA to tackle illegal timber 2 Mar 2007

UK and Australia agree closer ties to combat illegal timber 19 Jan 2007

UNECE/FAO Policy Forum presentation  (comparison of DK, NL & UK) 5 Oct 2006

FAO Paper: Public procurement policies for forest products and their impacts  8 Aug 2006