Press Release: Milestone agreement to prevent illegal wood imports to EU from Central African Republic and to boost the country’s timber sector

By 2014, all shipments of wood products to the European Union from the Central African Republic would be required to carry a licence certifying their legal origin, after a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) was signed on the 28 November 2011 between the EU and the Central African Republic.

The agreement provided European consumers with the assurance that wood products imported from the Central African Republic, including furniture and wood chips used for bio-fuel, were of legal origin. The Agreement came as a result of the strong mutual commitment to eradicate illegal logging and to bring more transparency to the timber trade

• Primary Source

EU: EEAS: Central African Republic http://eeas.europa.eu/central_african_republic/index_en.htm

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