Survey among private forest owners on the Europea Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) implementation

Following the introduction of the European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) in March 2013, the Confederation of European Forest Owners (CEPF) carried out a survey, aimed at gathering the experiences, expectations and views of its members on the implementation process from a private forest owners’ perspective. The aim of this study is to stimulate the discussions within CEPF and to provide input to the forthcoming European Commission evaluation on the EUTR to be carried out in the course of 2015. This synthesis report entails the outcome of an online-based questionnaire, which includes the responses of fourteen CEPF members and was conducted between October and November 2014. Even though private forest owners are not the main concern of the EUTR and the impacts on their activities are expected to be limited, the results of the survey show that there are some critical issues that need further attention and consideration. In some CEPF Member States implementing the EUTR is a reason for concern from a private forest owners’ perspective. Overall, the respondents expect that the Regulation will bring an increase in bureaucracy and administrative costs for forest owners when selling timber, while not leading to desirable positive effects on the sales and value of domestic timber. In addition, the role and awareness of forest owners and their preparedness to comply with their new obligations has also emerged as a key concern, highlighted together with the need for further support, information and simplification of the processes. The results show further that the competent authorities enforce the EUTR to a varying extent and intensity, causing a great level of incoherency and inconsistency. Only in few cases the checks on operators to investigate possible non-compliance have started. This demonstrates that in many EU Member States the EUTR is still at an early stage of implementation.