Forest law - European Union and international
There is no “Common Forest Policy” on EU level; forest policy is the competence of the Member States. However, there are a number of legal provisions in various EU policy areas, such as the Common Agricultural Policy, the Environment Policy or Energy Policy, which directly or indirectly influence national forestry law.
Forest law of the European Union
However, various provisions of relevance to forest law can be found in different policy areas of the EU, for example the Common Agricultural Policy, environmental policy or energy policy.
These concern, among other things, the following topics:
>> Marketing of forest reproductive material;
>> Subsidisation of forestry;
>> Protection of forests through monitoring;
>> Plant protection as well as the
>> Fight against illegal logging and related trade.
Below you will find a few examples of legal instruments at EU level:
- Resolution on a new Forest Strategy for the EU for 2023
- Directive 1999/105/EC on the marketing of forest reproductive material
- Regulation (EC) No 2021/2115 on the CAP strategic plans (funding)
- Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005 on the establishment of a FLEGT licensing scheme for imports of timber into the European Community
- Regulation (EC) No 995/2010 laying down the obligations of operators who place timber and timber products on the market
- Regulation (EC) No 2023/1115 EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR)
- Regulation (EC) No 2016/2031 on measures to protect against plant pests
- Regulation (EC) No 2018/2001/EU to promote the use of energy from renewable sources (RED)
International forest law
At the international level, the following non-binding legal instruments should be mentioned which, however, are reflected in EU legal instruments indirectly, as objectives:
- Resolutions adopted on the occasion of the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE)
- Forest Principles produced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).