What the regulation asks of you, what certification does and does not cover, and exactly what we put in the file with a consignment.
This catches people out, so it is worth stating plainly. Chain-of-custody certification is strong evidence of legality and responsible management. But the EU Deforestation Regulation asks for something certification was never designed to provide: the geolocation of the plot the timber was harvested from, and a due diligence statement submitted in your own name.
Certification supports the assessment. It does not replace it. An operator relying on a certificate alone still has a gap to close, and mixed-origin hardwood bought through traders makes closing it slow and expensive.
So we do not lead with a certificate. We lead with the coordinates.
Five links, assembled before the container leaves rather than reconstructed afterwards when somebody asks.
Each consignment is tied to the compartment it was harvested from, with the latitude and longitude polygon for that compartment.
South African harvesting and export documentation, showing the timber was produced lawfully in the country of origin.
Eucalyptus grandis and saligna, one species per consignment. No mixed-species loads, which removes a common source of declaration error.
The drying schedule and batch reference the pack came from, so the technical file and the commercial file agree.
Moisture content and grade per pack, referenced to the pack identification on the strapping.
Bought through a chain of traders. Several species, several countries, several forests in one container. Every one of them a separate line of evidence you must obtain, verify and defend.
One species, a single managed resource, our own mill. The chain is short enough to describe in a sentence and short enough to evidence in a file.
We are a supplier, not your compliance adviser. The due diligence statement remains yours to make. What we do is make the evidence behind it straightforward to assemble, and give you a supplier who can answer the question on the same day you are asked it.
Send us the evidence your compliance team actually needs to see and we will tell you honestly whether we can provide it.
Talk to us