Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Important information on Illegal Logging legislative reform

Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) has received advice from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) in relation to important information on Illegal Logging legislative reform

Due diligence requirements will change on 3 March 2025. 

The fundamental steps of your due diligence requirements will remain unchanged.

However, there are key changes to some steps:

• The three risk assessment methods in the current Regulation (Country Specific Guidelines or State Specific Guidelines, Timber Legality Frameworks and Regulated Risk Factors) will be replaced with two distinct risk assessment pathways for:
   
1. Certified timber and timber products/raw logs 
2. Non-certified timber and timber products/raw logs.
    
• There will be a new repeat due diligence exception. This will allow you to rely on a previous risk assessment and risk mitigation measures if you import or process the same timber, timber products, or raw logs from the same supplier within a 12 month period. You can use this exception regardless of the certification status of your timber or timber products.
   
• There will be an exemption for processors who are also the person/entity who harvested the raw log.