Wooden furniture and other timber products manufactured or imported into the UK will be subject to new regulation from March 2013 - and the first phase of this came into place last month.
On February 20th, the EU FLEGT Regulation - short for Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade - officially came into force, although it will not really have any effect until the first Voluntary Partnership Agreement from a participating country is listed in the regulation's Annex.
After that time, it means that a FLEGT licence will need to be held by companies importing timber products from the relevant country.
The UK Border Agency is due to handle enforcement of imports, while the Animal Health & Veterinary Laboratories Agency at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is to implement FLEGT licensing within the UK itself.
For customers buying wooden furniture and other timber products within the UK in the years to come, there should be little (if any) change - the regulation simply applies to those buying, using and importing timber and its products.
However, this is a further example of the industry's ongoing efforts to prevent illegal logging, improve sustainability and generally raise standards not only in the UK, but throughout the world's timber-producing regions.