§ Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what action she is taking to ensure that illegally logged timber on board MV Greveno does not enter the United Kingdom. [163172]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 23 March 2004]The UK is pressing for a new EU import Regulation as part of the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) process. This Regulation would apply to timber imports from FLEGT partner countries. Until this Regulation is in force, Customs have no powers to prevent illegally logged timber from being imported into the UK.
The UK is working closely with the Government of Indonesia to control illegal logging and its associated trade. The UK Government have drawn the shipment of timber on the MV Greveno to the attention of the relevant Indonesian authorities, who will look into the issue immediately.
As requested by the Council of the European Union, the UK Government are also currently examining the feasibility of using national legislation, such as that related to money laundering, to deal with imports of timber that have been produced in contravention of the laws of the producer country.