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Forests

European, US, and Australian Markets Are Still Importing Logs from Countries with Full or Partial Log Export Bans

By Brian Schaap
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Over the past several decades, more than 30 countries have enacted policies to restrict or prohibit the export of raw logs. Yet companies around the world have been importing logs from these countries – indicating a risk of illegal import. In Europe, the USA, and Australia, trade regulations against the import of illegally sourced wood products may be being violated, making these companies vulnerable to enforcement action. Since each log export ban is different in its scope, one cannot merely judge all logs as illegal without additional due diligence research. To identify potentially high risk flows of logs, Forest Trends analyzed European, US, and Australian log imports from thirty countries with some form of a log export ban over the period 2011‐2015.