28 March 2024, 08:27
By Furniture News Jun 01, 2017

FIRA helps timber compliance across the furniture supply chain

FIRA International has released details on its 2017 EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) training programme, which aims to promote regulatory compliance. The next training event will take place on 12th June at FIRA’s facilities in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.

The EUTR entered into force in March 2013 and aims to reduce illegal logging worldwide. Essentially the Regulation makes it a crime to utilise illegally-harvested timber and timber products within the EU market. The Regulation covers a variety of timber products including sawn and machined wood, composite boards such as fibreboard, particleboard and plywood and veneering sheets, together with non-upholstered office, kitchen and bedroom furniture.

The EUTR prohibits the placing onto the EU market of illegally harvested timber and timber products. It requires companies that place timber or products on the market for the first time to exercise due diligence to make sure they are from a legal source. To facilitate the traceability of timber and products, the EUTR also requires traders, people who buy or sell timber products on the EU market to keep records of their suppliers and customers.

As such, the aim of FIRA’s EUTR course is to help organisations affected by the Regulation to adopt practices to ensure timber and timber products they are involved with are compliant, by providing delegates with a key understanding of the requirements of EUTR, with focus on areas including:

- Identifying whether the organisation is an operator, trader or both

- Sustainability and legal frameworks

- Placing products on the market

- Measures and procedures for due diligence

- Obligation of traceability and maintaining traceability records for the supply chain

- Chain of custody certification schemes

The course is suitable for furniture suppliers and manufacturers, importers, compliance managers and environmental staff, and procurement staff. Members of the Furniture Industry Research Association can attend for £350+VAT, whilst the delegate fee for non-members is £600+VAT.

Further details on the training are available from Stuart Cochrane ([email protected], +44 (0)1438 777 602) or via www.fira.co.uk/training.

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