APPENDIX THREE
Memorandum submitted by FERN, Friends
of the Earth and Greenpeace
1. SUMMARY
The UK Government's stated policy is to purchase
sustainably produced timber and timber products. Yet the Government's
criteria for sustainable forest management exclude social aspects
of sustainable forest management, such as protecting the rights,
health and livelihoods of people who live in or adjacent to and
who depend on forests. This is in contradiction to international
agreements to which the Government is a signatory and which the
Government cites in its advice to procurement authorities. It
is also in contradiction to (planned) procurement policies of
other EU member states, notably Denmark and the Netherlands.
The UK Government argues that the EU Procurement
Directives do not allow social aspects of sustainable forest management
to be taken into consideration in the procurement process because
they have no demonstrable bearing on the quality of the finished
product. In our opinion and contrary to that of the UK Government,
the EU Procurement Directives can and must be interpreted in such
a way as to provide as much scope for including social aspects
of sustainable forest management in public procurement practice
as there is for including environmental aspects. Several other
European Governments have or will interpret the Directives in
such a way that social aspects of sustainable forest management
must be included. FERN, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth agree
with these Governments: in our opinion there is no such thing
as sustainable forest management that does not include social
aspects. This has also been clearly stated in numerous international
conventions and declarations as early as 1992, to which the UK
has signed onto.
Furthermore, the UK's claim that social aspects
of sustainable forest management cannot be taken into consideration
is inconsistent with the Government's admittance of environmental
criteria. In our opinion, environmental matters related to the
way in which forests are managed have the same demonstrable bearing
on the quality of the finished product as social matters. It is
disingenuous to claim, for example, that protection of a rare
species is in some way more relevant to a contract to supply timber
than a similar criterion concerning prevention of harm to forest
dependent people or protecting indigenous peoples' rights.
The UK Government, therefore, can and should
incorporate into its procurement procedures the social aspects
of sustainable forest management that are embedded in the international
principles to which it is a signatory.
2. GOVERNMENT
POLICY ON
PROCUREMENT OF
TIMBER AND
TIMBER PRODUCTS
The Government's policy on the procurement of
wood is to purchase sustainably produced timber (DEFRA 2002).
One way in which the Government encourages departments to achieve
this is to specify in orders and contracts that (DEFRA 2002):
— suppliers provide documentary evidence
(which has been, or if necessary can be, independently verified)
that the timber has been lawfully obtained from forests and plantations
which are managed to sustain their biodiversity, productivity
and vitality, and to prevent harm to other ecosystems and any
indigenous or forest-dependent people; and
— timber purchases are in accordance
with international agreements such as the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
The Government`s advice to departments notes
that the documentary evidence referred to in the first bullet
above might take the form of: a certificate issued under a credible,
preferably independent, verification scheme; or other documents
that demonstrate that timber producers are abiding to a declaration,
charter, code of conduct or an environmental management system
incorporating forest management criteria that conform with internationally
recognised principles (DEFRA 2002).
It is clear that the Government's procurement
policy is to purchase timber and timber products that originate
in forests that are managed in accordance with internationally
accepted principles of sustainable forest management, including
the prevention of harm to any indigenous or forest dependent people.
2.1 Principles of sustainable forest management
The Governments' Green Guide for Buyers: Action
Sheet on Wood (DEFRA 2002) lists the following sets of principles
as reference points for determining whether forests are sustainably
managed:
— inside Europe the Pan-European Operational
Level Guidelines for Sustainable Forest Management as endorsed
by the Lisbon Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests
in Europe (2-4 June 1998); and
— outside Europe, the UNCED Forest
Principles (Rio de Janeiro, June 1992) and, where applicable,
to the criteria or guidelines for sustainable forest management
as adopted under recognised international and regional initiatives,
eg ITTO, Montreal Process, Tarapoto Process, UNEP/FAO Dry-Zone
Africa Initiative.
The Government is a party to a number of other
international agreements that act as reference points for defining
sustainable forest management including: the Intergovernmental
Panel and Forests Proposals for Action (UN 2004) the Convention
on Biological Diversity's Programme of Work on Forest Biological
Diversity (CBD 1998); the Bill of Rights (and International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights) (UN 1966a, 1966b); the World Bank's
Forestry Policy (World Bank 2002).
There is now a global consensus on what sustainable
forest management means in practice. The consensus was hard fought
for. NGOs are concerned that the definition may be interpreted
and presented in different ways for different purposes and that
the consensus may start to weaken as a result.
The box below contains extracts from some of
the internationally accepted principles that illustrate the consensus
with regard to social aspects of sustainable forest management.
Rio Principles (UN 1992)
— Principle 2(c): Forest resources
and forest lands should be sustainably managed to meet the social,
economic, ecological, cultural and spiritual needs of present
and future generations. These needs are for forest products and
services, such as wood and wood products, water, food, fodder,
medicine, fuel, shelter, employment, recreation, habitats for
wildlife, landscape diversity, carbon sinks and reservoirs, and
for other forest products.
— Principle 5(a): National forest policies
should recognise and duly support the identity, culture and the
rights of indigenous people, their communities and other communities
and forest dwellers. Appropriate conditions should be promoted
for these groups to enable them to have an economic stake in forest
use, perform economic activities, and achieve and maintain cultural
identity and social organisation, as well as adequate levels of
livelihood and well-being, through, inter alia, those land
tenure arrangements which serve as incentives for the sustainable
management of forests.
Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests
in Europe
— Lisbon Conference Resolution 2, Annex
2, Pan-European Operational Level Guidelines for Sustainable Forest
Management , Guideline 6.1: Property rights and land tenure arrangements
should be clearly defined, documented and established for the
relevant forest area. Likewise, legal, customary and traditional
rights related to the forest land should be clarified, recognised
and respected (MCPFE 1998).
— VIENNA Conference Declaration, commitment
11: (Signatory governments commit themselves to) fully reflect
the social and cultural dimensions of sustainable forest management
in forest-related policies. (MCPFE 2003).
ITTO Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Management
of Natural Tropical Forests[1]
(ITTO 1998)
— Indicator 7.10: Number of people
dependent on the forest for subsistence uses and traditional and
customary lifestyles.
— Indicator 7.11: Area of forest upon
which people are dependent for subsistence uses and traditional
and customary lifestyles.
— Indicator 7.14: Number of important
archaeological and cultural sites identified, mapped and protected.
— Indicator 7.16: Extent to which forest
planning and management practices and processes consider and recognise
legal or customary rights with respect to indigenous people and
local communities, forest dwellers and other forest-dependent
communities.
— Indicator 7.17: Extent of participation
by indigenous people and local communities, forest dwellers and
other forest-dependent communities in forest-based economic activities.
— Indicator 7.18: Number of agreements
involving local communities in co-management responsibilities.
ATO/ITTO principles, criteria and indicators for
the sustainable management of African natural tropical forests
— Indicator 1.1.7: The legal and customary
rights of local populations related to the ownership, utilisation
and management of the land and resources near the permanent forest
estate are clearly defined, recognised and respected.
— Indicator 1.2.4: Mechanisms exist
to promote the participation of different stakeholders, particularly
rural communities, in the management of forests.
— Indicator 1.5.8: All forms of damage
caused to the property of the local populations by forestry activities
are compensated according to the norms in force or after negotiation.
— Indicator 4.1.1: The legal and customary
rights of local populations in respect to the ownership, use and
tenure of the forest land and resources are clearly defined, acknowledged
and respected.
— Indicator 4.2.1: The concessionaire
sets up ad hoc bodies for consultation and negotiation
with local populations.
— Indicator 4.2.4: Procedures for consultation
with populations during the establishment and demarcation of forest
concession boundaries are respected.
— Indicator 4.3.1: The forest concessionaire
ensures that the populations living within or near the FMU receive
a portion of the revenue generated by the exploitation of the
FMU.
— Indicator 4.3.2: Local communities
living in or near the harvested forest area benefit preferentially
from opportunities in employment, training and other services.
— Indicator 4.3.3: In accordance with
the importance and impact of the forest operations at the local
level, the concessionaire contributes to the development of the
local economy.
It is clear that if forest management is
to correspond to internationally accepted principles of sustainable
forest management, the planning and carrying out of forest use
must include social aspects, such as those related to land rights,
user rights and worker's health.
The UK and the countries that produce timber
consumed by the UK are signatories to one or another of the internationally
recognised principles of sustainable forest management. The UK
Government therefore has a duty to incorporate every element of
the principles into its sustainable timber procurement policy.
The governments of producer countries should have an expectation
that the UK Government will do this and have no grounds for objecting
provided that the policy does not discriminate between countries
3. WHAT THE
EU PROCUREMENT DIRECTIVES
PERMIT
EU public procurement rules are laid down in
the procurement Directives (European Union 2004a and 2004b). The
European Commission has issued guidance on incorporating environmental
considerations (EC Commission 2004) and social considerations
(EC Commission 2001) into procurement. The guidance on social
considerations was issued in connection with the previous procurement
Directives and not with the substantially changed new Directives.
Nonetheless the European Commissions still directs Member States
to it. There is clear scope for incorporating environmental and
social considerations at different stages of the procurement process
as follows.
3.1 Defining the requirements of the contract
EU procurement rules require procurement authorities
to define the subject matter of the contract in the form of technical
specifications. In the case of public works contracts, technical
specification means the totality of the technical prescriptions
contained in particular in the tender documents, defining the
characteristics required of a material, product or supply, which
permits a material, a product or a supply to be described in a
manner such that it fulfils the use for which it is intended by
the contracting authority. In the case of public supply or service
contracts, technical specification means a specification in a
document defining the required characteristics of a product or
a service. (EU 2004a, Annex VI). The "characteristics"
to which these rules refer may include production process and
methods (EU 2004a, Annex VI).
The rules allow procurement authorities to invite
potential bidders to submit "variants" to the basic
specification. In this case the procurement authority establishes
a minimum set of technical specifications for the product to be
purchased. The authority then specifies additional requirements
for the variant. Bidders may offer to supply products that meet
the minimum requirements or may offer to supply products that
conform to the specification of the variant. Variants may be used,
for example, to enable bidders to offer to supply products that
have lower environmental impacts.
The admission of production processes and methods
could be taken to mean that authorities may specify, for example,
that timber and timber products must be from legal and sustainable
sources, provided that the authorities define "legal"
and "sustainable" in a manner that allows the conformance
of specific materials to be evaluated objectively. EU procurement
rules also allow authorities to indicate certification schemes
that would be acceptable evidence of meeting their definitions
of "legal" and "sustainable" but not to the
general exclusion of other evidence not identified within the
tender documents. Authorities could specify, for example, "Certification
XYZ" or equivalent'; or they could specify sustainability
criteria and indicate certification schemes that would be accepted
as suitable proof of meeting those criteria.
The rules link technical specifications to the
performance and functional characteristics of the product, which
might be interpreted as disallowing the inclusion of legality
and sustainability in the technical specification. However, the
Commission's guidance on incorporating environmental considerations
into procurement states that procurement authorities may specify
environmental requirements for the timber to be purchased. As
an example the Commission states that "a community planning
to purchase fences and street furniture might investigate materials
available in the market such as wood from environmentally sustainably
managed forests or synthetic materials made from recycled raw
material"; and "For example, the following criteria
can be used in the technical specifications of a contract that
is sustainable in environmental terms: the assurance that the
rate of harvesting of timber does not exceed levels that can be
permanently sustained; use of environment-friendly non-chemical
methods of pest control, and the avoidance of use of chemical
pesticides. " (European Commission 2004)
The Commission's guidance notes that sustainable
forest management includes a social dimension but then goes on
to say that social aspects of sustainable forest management cannot
be included in technical specification because "as with
all technical specifications, you can only include those specifications
which are related to the subject matter of the contract. So you
cannot include specifications of a scheme on, for example, the
protection of forest-dependent people" (European Commission
2004).
We contend that none of the provisions of
the procurement Directives distinguish between environmental and
social aspects of production processes and methods. Procurement
authorities may specify production processes and methods if they
are related to the subject matter of the contract. The Commission's
guidance does not explain why "environmentally sustainably
managed forests" may be included in technical specifications
but "socially sustainably managed forests" may not.
In its guidance on including social considerations
on the previous Directives, the Commission observes that "social
criteria are not included among the various criteria given as
examples in the public procurement Directives". We understand
that this guidance has influenced the UK Government's decision
with regard to excluding social aspects of sustainable forest
management. However, this guidance has been invalidated by the
European Court's ruling in the Concordia bus case (European Court
of Justice, 2002)[2]
3.2 Selecting suppliers, service providers
or contractors
The Directives lay down rules governing the
selection of those candidates whom the contracting authority considers
able to execute its contract. The rules concern:
1. the grounds that justify a candidate's
exclusion from participating in a public contract;
2. the candidate's financial and economic
standing; and
3. the candidate's technical capacity.
The first two rules do not offer any scope for
taking environmental considerations into account. The third rule
enables, to a certain extent, environmental considerations to
be taken into account, by for example, defining a minimum level
of equipment or facilities, or guaranteeing the correct execution
of the contract; but this seems to offer no scope for bringing
the source of timber and timber products into the selection of
candidates.
3.3 Awarding the contract
The Directives contain two options for the award
of contracts: either the lowest price or the "most economically
advantageous tender". When a procurement chooses the second
option the Commission's guidance (EC Commission 2004) states that
it is possible to apply environmental award criteria provided
those criteria are linked to the subject-matter of the contract,
do not confer unrestricted freedom of choice on the contracting
authority, are expressly mentioned in the contract notice and
tender documents, and comply with the fundamental principles of
EU law. This guidance is based on the Concordia Bus case ruling
(European Court of Justice, 2002) 2 which was in connection with
a procurement authority's inclusion of an environmental criterion
in its evaluation of contracts to supply a fleet of buses.
3.4 Contract performance clauses
The Directives allow social and environmental
considerations to be included in contract clauses governing performance
of the contract.
The Commission's guidance on environmental considerations
states that "contract clauses should not play a role in
determining which tenderer gets the contract, which means that
any bidder should, in principle, be able to cope with them. They
should not be disguised technical specifications, award or selection
criteria. Whereas tenderers must prove that their bids meet the
technical specifications, proof of compliance with contract clauses
should not be requested during the procurement procedure.
" (European Commission 2004)
In its judgment of 17 September 2002 the ECJ ruled
that "where, in the context of a public contract for the
provision of urban bus transport services, the contracting authority
decides to award a contract to the tenderer who submits the economically
most advantageous tender, it may take into consideration ecological
criteria such as the level of nitrogen oxide emissions or the
noise level of the buses, provided that they are linked to the
subject-matter of the contract, do not confer an unrestricted
freedom of choice on the authority, are expressly mentioned in
the contract documents or the tender notice, and comply with all
the fundamental principles of Community law, in particular the
principle of non-discrimination."
The Commission's (old) guidance on social considerations
states that "contracting authorities have a wide range
of possibilities for determining the contractual clauses on social
considerations" and gives a number of examples that are
based on the Commission's opinion that "the term `social
considerations' covers a very wide range of issues and fields.
It can mean measures to ensure compliance with fundamental rights,
with the principle of equality of treatment and non-discrimination
(for example, between men and women), with national legislation
on social affairs, and with Community Directives applicable in
the social field. The expression "social considerations"
also covers the concepts of preferential clauses (for example,
for the reintegration of disadvantaged persons or of unemployed
persons, and positive actions or positive discrimination in particular
with a view to combating unemployment and social exclusion)
". (European Commission 2001)
The Commission's guidance goes on to say that
"it would appear more difficult to envisage contractual
clauses relating to the manner in which supply contracts are executed
since the imposition of clauses requiring changes to the organisation,
structure or policy of an undertaking established on the territory
of another Member State might be considered discriminatory or
to constitute an unjustified restriction of trade. "
(European Commission 2001)
We note that the Commission's guidance does
not exclude the inclusion of social aspects of sustainable forest
management in contract performance clauses. With regard to the
Commission's observation concerning supply contracts we note that
countries that produce timber and timber products are signatories
to internationally accepted principles of sustainable forest management,
are therefore committed to ensuring that forest management addresses
the social aspects of these principles, and therefore would not
have grounds for complaining that contract performance clauses
that include social aspects of sustainable forest management are
discriminatory.
4. HOW THE
UK GOVERNMENT IMPLEMENTS
ITS TIMBER
PROCUREMENT POLICY
The Government's model procedure for procuring
timber includes a contract condition to ensure supply of timber
from legal sources and a variant specification for the option
of supplying sustainable timber. A key requirement of the contract
and variant specification is that suppliers must be able to provide
evidence to the Government that the wood or wood products they
supply are from legal and, if promised by the supplier, sustainable
sources.
4.1 The basic and variant technical specifications
The Government advises procurement authorities
to limit the basic technical specification to the technical and
physical characteristics of the timber or products required. It
will set the minimum quality standard acceptable for performance
of the contract. There should be no reference to "sustainable"
timber criteria in the basic specification. This minimum standard
is acceptable as a fallback if a competition is unable to produce
an acceptable variant offer for "sustainable" timber.
With regard to the variant specification, the
Government advises procurement authorities to give tenderers the
option of offering sustainable timber as an addition to the minimum
specification. The Government provides a model variant specification
that includes all the minimum criteria plus additional criteria
that require the majority of the timber/wood supplied to be either
recycled or from forests that are managed to protect their well
being and sustain future supplies of timber. This higher quality
variant is the preferred choice of the UK Government. In all competitions
the procurement authorities should choose this variant bid if
financial considerations support such an approach.
The model variant specification includes sustainable
forest management standards and defines these as standards that
sustain forest biodiversity, productivity and vitality, and minimise
harm to ecosystems, including people, that depend on forests for
their well being.
However, concerning social issues the Government
notes that "To ensure transparency and non-discrimination,
procurement regulations do not allow the Authority to include
social and ethical criteria in contract specifications if they
do not directly relate to the subject matter of the contract.
There are unlikely to be any government contracts involving timber/wood
supplies where social and ethical matters are a primary consideration
in the specification of goods, services and works. Therefore,
the criteria for `sustainable' timber, as set out in the variant
specification cannot include specific requirements dealing with
social customs, behaviour and conditions. "
The Government also notes that "The
interests of people who depend on forests for their livelihoods
or social well being may be protected to an extent as a consequence
of forests being managed to sustain forest productivity, health,
vitality and bio diversity. These are outcomes that can be legitimately
reflected in production and process specifications because they
relate directly to the material used to create the product being
demanded. It doesn't matter that the finished product could look
and perform equally well if made from trees grown in a badly managed
forest. The Authority can legitimately specify production and
process methods that can affect the physical product or sustain
its future supply. "
The UK Government excludes social aspects of
sustainable forest management on the grounds that social and ethical
matters are unlikely to be a primary consideration in the specification
of goods, services and works and by implication unlikely to be
directly related to the subject matter of a contract that involves
the supply of timber. On the other hand the Government considers
it acceptable to include environmental aspects of sustainable
forest management such as biodiversity that are no more closely
connected to the subject matter of such contracts, as our analysis
below of the Government's criteria for assessing forest certification
schemes shows.
4.2 The Government's criteria for assessing
certification schemes
The Government advises procurement authorities
that one way of achieving its timber procurement policy is to
supply products from certified sources, provided that the certification
scheme involved delivers the Government's requirements for legality
or sustainability. The Government has developed criteria for assessing
certification schemes and has applied the criteria to a number
of schemes.
The criteria for sustainability are listed in
Annex 1 of this submission. None of the criteria have any bearing
on the technical characteristics of the timber that is supplied.
Most of them have a bearing on the future productivity of the
forest and therefore on the forest's potential to continue to
supply timber. Some of them have no bearing whatsoever on the
future productivity of the forest, for example concerning the
protection of biodiversity: implementation of safeguards to protect
rare, threatened and endangered species; the conservation/set-aside
of key ecosystems or habitats in their natural state; the protection
of features and species of outstanding or exceptional value.
We support the inclusion of criteria aimed
at protecting biodiversity but we contend that these criteria
have no more bearing on the subject matter of a contract to supply
timber than do such social aspects of sustainable forest management
as protecting the rights and livelihoods of forest dependent people.
5. HOW OTHER
MS HAVE INTERPRETED
THE EU PROCUREMENT
RULES
5.1 Denmark
The Danish government has published guidelines
that are designed "to make it easier for public and semi-public
institutions to ensure that the tropical timber they purchase
is produced in a legal and sustainable manner" (DEPA
and DFNA 2003). The guidelines recommend that purchasers specify
three variants:
(i) legal and sustainable;
(ii) legal and progressing towards sustainable;
and
Purchasers are advised to accept timber that is clearly
produced legally and is either partially sustainable or on the
way towards sustainability, if fully sustainable timber cannot
be obtained with adequate documentation. As a minimum, suppliers
should be required to document that the timber has been legally
produced. The guidelines include a checklist that purchasers are
advised to ask suppliers to complete. The checklist sets out the
criteria for "legal/sustainable" and the evidence required
for determining compliance with these criteria.
The guidelines recommend that requirements for
"sustainably produced" tropical timber should be based
on the principles set out in the 1992 UNCED Statement of Forest
Principles and the principles and criteria developed by the International
Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) and Center for International
Forestry Research (CIFOR). The checklist includes the following
questions:
— Does the forest management meet the
social, economic, ecological, cultural, and spiritual needs of
present and future generations?
— Has the forest management respected
and given appropriate consideration to legal and institutional
frameworks, the size of the forestry resource, the health and
vitality of the forest, its production and protection functions
and biodiversity, and socio-economic, cultural and spiritual assets
and needs?
5.2 Netherlands
The Dutch Government has prepared national guidelines
for assessing forest certification schemes (VROM, 2004). These
guidelines will be used to support the Government's policy of
procuring timber from sustainable managed forests.
The guidelines include many references to social
aspects of sustainable forest management including:
— Criterion 15.1: The local
and indigenous populations with ownership rights or customary
rights in the forest estate . . . must have sufficient authority
to be able to preserve these rights unless they have voluntarily
delegated them on the basis of prior informed consent.
— Criterion 15.3: Disputes with
the local and indigenous populations or workers concerning ownership
rights, forest rights, jobs or social facilities, must be adequately
solved.
— Criterion 15.4: The local
and indigenous populations must be given priority in respect of
jobs in the business and shall be actively involved in the management
of the forest.
— Criterion 15.5: Active contributions
must be made to the development of the local physical infrastructure,
social facilities and programmes for the local and indigenous
populations on a scale corresponding to the extent of the forest
exploitation system with the prior informed consent of the local
and indigenous populations. The local physical infrastructure
must not undermine the aim of sustainable forest management.
— Criterion 15.6: Workers and
local and indigenous populations must be properly informed about
sustainable forest management and the forest cultivation and exploitation
system being applied.
— Criterion 16.1: Forest areas
or objects with special socio-cultural values must be managed
as protected objects.
— Criterion 17.1: The forest
management measures and plantation forests to be planted must
not have a negative impact on the rights, traditions and values
of the local and indigenous populations and their access to forest
products.
— Criterion 17.2: Where the
local and/or indigenous population's knowledge of forest management
is used, or where the rights, traditions or values of local and
indigenous populations or their access to forest products are
adversely affected, they must be compensated on the basis of the
prior informed consent of the people concerned.
Other Member States, notably Denmark and
the Netherlands, have interpreted the procurement Directives in
a way that admits the inclusion of social aspects of sustainable
forest management.
REFERENCES
ATTO and ITTO (African Timber Organisation and
International Tropical Timber Organisation). 2003. ATO/ITTO
principles, criteria and indicators for the sustainable management
of African natural tropical forests. African Timber Organization,
Libreville, Gabon and International Tropical Timber Organization,
Yokohama, Japan.
CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity). 1998.
Decision IV/7 of the Conference of the Parties to the Biodiversity
Convention. Fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, Bratislava,
Slovakia, 1998.
DEFRA. 2001. Timber: Buyers' Questions Answered.
January 2001.
DEFRA. 2002. Green Guide for Buyers. Action
Sheet: Wood. January 2002.
DEFRA. 2004a. Green Guide for Buyers: Timber
Procurement Advice Note. January 2004.
DEFRA. 2004b. UK Government's Response to
Representations Made on the Assessment of Five Forest Certification
Schemes: Central Point of Expertise on Timber (CPET) Phase 1 Final
Report. November 2004.
DEFRA. 2004c. UK Government Timber Procurement
Policy. Assessment of five forest certification schemes. CPET
Phase 1 Final Report. November 2004.
DEPA and DFNA (Danish Environmental Protection
Agency and Danish Forest and Nature Agency). 2003. Purchasing
Tropical Timber: Environmental Guidelines. Downloadable from http://www.sns.dk/udgivelser/2003/tropical/default.htm.
European Commission. 2001. Interpretative
communication on the Community law applicable to public procurement
and the possibilities for integrating social considerations into
public procurement. COM (2001) 566 of 15/10/2001.
European Commission. 2004. Buying green!
A handbook on environmental public procurement.
European Court of Justice. 2002. European Court
Reports 2002 Page I-07213
European Union. 2004a. Directive 2004/17/EC
of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004
co-ordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating
in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors.
European Union. 2004b. Directive 2004/18/EC
of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004
on the co-ordination of procedures for the award of public works
contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts.
ITTO (International Tropical Timber Organisation).
1998. Criteria and indicators for sustainable management of
natural tropical forests. ITTO Policy Development Series No
7. ITTO. Yokohama. Japan.
MCPFE (Ministerial Conference on the Protection
of Forests In Europe). 1993. Second Ministerial Conference
on the Protection of Forests in Europe 16-17 June 1993, Helsinki,
Finland.
MCPFE. 1998. Third Ministerial Conference on
the Protection of Forests in Europe 2-4 June 1998, Lisbon, Portugal.
MCPFE. 2003. Fourth Ministerial Conference
on the Protection of Forests In Europe, 28-30 April 2003, Vienna,
Austria.
UN (United Nations). 1966a. International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Adopted
and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General
Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966; entry into
force 3 January 1976; available at: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/a_cescr.htm.
UN.1966b. International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights; Adopted and opened for signature, ratification
and accession by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16
December 1966 entry into force 23 March 1976, Available at http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/a_ccpr.htm.
UN. 1992. Non-legally binding authoritative
statement of principles for a global consensus on the management,
conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests.
United Nations. New York.
UN. 2004. United Nations Forum on Forests.
Report on the fourth session. New York, USA, 6 June 2003 and
3-14 May 2004. E/2004/42, E/CN.18/2004/17. Available at: www.un.org/esa/forests/documents-unff.html#4.
VROM (Dutch Ministry of Environment). 2004.
Assessment guideline for certification of sustainable forest management
and chain of custody of wood from sustainably managed forests.
World Bank. 2002. The World Bank Operational
Manual. Operational Policies. Forests. OP 4.36.Washington,
DC, USA, World Bank. Available at: wbln0018.worldbank.org/Institutional/Manuals/OpManual.nsf/tocall/C972D5438F4D1FB78525672C007D077A?OpenDocument.
Annex 1
CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING WHETHER CERTIFICATION
SCHEME PROVIDE EVIDENCE OF SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT
1.2.1 Certification standards must be based
on a widely accepted set of international principles and criteria
defining sustainable or responsible forest management at the forest
management unit level, such as:
(i) Intergovernmental processes designed
for use at FMU level;
1.2.2 The standard should be performance-based.
1.2.3 The standard must ensure that harm
to ecosystems is minimised. In order to do this the standard should
include requirements for:
(i) appropriate assessment of impacts and
planning to minimise impacts;
(ii) protection of soil, water and biodiversity;
(iii) controlled and appropriate use of chemicals
and use of Integrated Pest Management wherever possible; and
(iv) proper disposal of wastes to minimise
any negative impacts.
1.2.4 The standard must ensure that productivity
of the forest is maintained. In order to do this the standard
should include requirements for:
(i) management planning and implementation
of management activities to avoid significant negative impacts
on forest productivity;
(ii) monitoring which is adequate to check
compliance with all requirements, together with review and feedback
into planning;
(iii) operations and operational procedures
which minimise impacts on the range of forest resources and services;
(iv) adequate training of all personnel,
both employees and contractors; and
(v) harvest levels that do not exceed the
long-term production capacity of the forest, based on adequate
inventory and growth and yield data.
1.2.5 The standard must ensure that forest
ecosystem health and vitality is maintained. In order to do this
the standard should include requirements for:
(i) management planning which aims to maintain
or increase the health and vitality of forest ecosystems;
(ii) management of natural processes, fires,
pests and diseases; and
(iii) adequate protection of the forest from
unauthorised activities such as illegal logging, mining and encroachment.
1.2.6 The standard must ensure that biodiversity
is maintained. In order to do this the standard should include
requirements for:
(i) implementation of safeguards to protect
rare, threatened and endangered species;
(ii) The conservation/set-aside of key ecosystems
or habitats in their natural state; and
(iii) the protection of features and species
of outstanding or exceptional value.
22 February 2005
1 These extracts are from the original C&I. ITTO
adopted "simpler" C&I in December 2004; they will
be published in March 2005. Back
2
This case, referred to the ECJ in 1999, concerned a tender launched
by the city of Helsinki for bus transport operations within the
city. The city explicitly stated that it included environmental
criteria, principally air and noise emissions and a certified
Environmental Management Standard (EMS), within the award criteria
and that it would allocate a number of points therein. This was
subsequently challenged by one of the unsuccessful bidders who
argued that allocating additional points for equipment whose nitrogen
oxide emissions and noise levels were below certain limits was
unfair and discriminatory and that, in the overall assessment
of the tenders, there could be no question of applying environmental
factors which had no direct connection with the subject of the
call for tenders-ie an EMS. One of the key elements of the case,
therefore, was whether environmental criteria could be included
in award criteria, and, more specifically, whether they must have
a direct economic advantage for the contracting authority and
be of direct relevance to the contract. Back
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