Press Release: Fight against illegal timber exports: the European Union and Cameroon team up to ensure legal origin of imported wood products to the EU

The European Union has signed the Voluntary Partnership Agreement with Cameroon, the largest African exporter of timber products to the EU. By July 2012, all shipments of wood products from Cameroon to the EU will be required to carry a license showing that they contain timber and wood products from a legal origin. This agreement expresses a strong joint commitment to eradicate illegal logging and underpins Cameroon’s ongoing reforms towards good governance of the forest sector and development. European consumers, for their part, will have confidence that wood products, such as furniture, imported from Cameroon are of legal origin.

European Commission: Memo/10/474: FAQs on illegal logging http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/10/474&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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