Forest Industries Intelligence
Informing the Sustainable Wood Industry Since 1998
After several years of disruption during and in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic, this year the Milan Salone del Mobile furniture fair returned to its traditional April slot for the first time since 2019. Although visitor numbers were still down on pre-pandemic figures of around 400,000 in 2018 and 2019, at 307,418 they were 15% more than in 2022.
The legal process to introduce the new “EU Deforestation Regulation” (EUDR) is nearing completion. On 6 December 2022, the European Council and the European Parliament agreed on the text of the regulation available at:
https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-16298-2022-INIT/en/pdf
This text was subsequently endorsed by Member States’ ambassadors on 21 December 2022. The ENVI Committee approved it on 16 January 2023. The vote in plenary by the European Parliament is scheduled for 17 April 2023. If passed by Parliament without further amendment, as widely expected, it only needs to be formally approved in Council, likely in May or June this year. The law would then be enforced 18 months later for large operators and 24 months later for SMEs.