US Lacey Act

The Lacey Act is a 1900 United States law that bans trafficking in illegal wildlife. In 2008, the Act was amended to include plants and plant products such as timber and paper. This landmark legislation is the world's first ban on trade in illegally sourced wood products.

EU Timber Regulation

Since 2010, the European Union’s Timber Regulation counters the trade in illegally harvested timber and timber products. Through “due diligence” EU operators undertake a risk management exercise so as to minimize the risk of placing illegally harvested timber, or timber products on the EU market. The application will start in 2013 and is legally binding on all 27 EU Member States.

EU FLEGT

The EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan is a voluntary scheme that provides a number of measures to exclude illegal timber from markets, to improve the supply of legal timber and to increase the demand for responsible wood products. A central element of the EU’s strategy to combat illegal logging are trade accords with timber exporting countries, known as Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPA), to ensure legal timber trade and support good forest governance in the partner countries