Retailers Take Steps to Identify Illegal Wood in Supply Chains

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) along with 10 other organizations have formed the Forest Legality Alliance (FLA) to support efforts to reduce trade in illegally harvested wood. In 2008 the U.S. government amended the Lacey Act to prohibit trade in the United States of products made from illegally harvested wood. The FLA is a global multi-stakeholders initiative open to businesses, industry associations, financial institutions and civil society organizations with a stake in legal forest product supply chains.

"Retailers are committed to sourcing legally harvested wood in the products they sell," says Stephanie Lester, RILA's vice president of international trade. "RILA sees the Forest Legality Alliance as an opportunity to work with other stakeholders to tackle the problem of illegal logging in a manner that protects forests around the world while also addressing the challenges of identifying illegal wood in supply chains."

The FLA will ensure that importers and supply chains know and understand the emerging new trade policies. It will develop new online resources that help companies assess the risk of encountering illegal wood, conduct due care and complete import declarations. It will work with suppliers to document best practices and address challenges associated with purchasing wood and complying with import regulations. It will focus on the capacity for legal trade in the sector as a whole, rather than on the performance of individual companies, and complement existing initiatives that certify legality and sustainability.

Other founding partners and members include the World Resources Institute (WRI), the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the American Paper & Forest Products Association, the Hardwood Federation, IKEA, the International Wood Products Association, NewPage Corp., Staples Inc., and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

RILA is a trade association whose members include more than 200 retailers, product manufacturers and service suppliers, which together account for more than $1.5 trillion in annual sales, millions of American jobs and more than 100,000 stores, manufacturing facilities and distribution centers domestically and abroad.

Source: http://logisticstoday.com/