The purpose of this policy is to lower or completely discard illegal logging.
"Regulation (EU) No 995/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 laying down the obligations of operators who place timber and timber products on the market – also known as the (Illegal) Timber Regulation counters the trade in illegally harvested timber and timber products through three key obligations:
1. It prohibits the placing on the EU market for the first time of illegally harvested timber and products derived from such timber;
2. It requires EU traders who place timber products on the EU market for the first time to exercise 'due diligence';
Once on the market, the timber and timber products may be sold on and/or transformed before they reach the final consumer. To facilitate the traceability of timber products economic operators in this part of the supply chain (referred to as traders in the regulation) have an obligation to
3. Keep records of their suppliers and customers." (Source: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/forests/timber_regulation.htm)
This policy is also linked to the 'Forest Strategy (2013)' (see: http://www.climatepolicydatabase.org/index.php?title=Forest_Strategy)