from Dominic von Trotha Taylor
Much like every industry that relies on supply chain networks, the timber sector has gone through a challenging time over the past few years. Between the pandemic, which put a massive strain on global supply chain networks and people’s ability to work, to the increasing focus on sustainability and climate change, timber businesses are having to evolve.
This already challenging predicament is soon to be greatly intensified by incoming EU legislation around deforestation (EUDR). While the details haven’t been fully revealed, we do know that it will likely double down on the traceability mandate involved in timber production and supply. Logging and the creation of timber products is one of the global economy's oldest industries, and most businesses in the sector still rely heavily on paper-based record keeping. That’s why the last timber regulation that came into effect in Europe (EUTR) which put the increased onus on businesses to perform limited tracing of timber products, proved to be an incredibly challenging task. Our research shown here found that 83% of respondents across all job roles spend half or more of their working hours tracking down information requested by customers. And with all indications that the EUDR will significantly increase that mandate by asking Importers to trace all timber products back to their forest source, this already time-consuming element of the workflow runs the risk of fully overwhelming businesses. So, in anticipation of the forthcoming regulation, iov42 asked Importers across the UK, Austria, Belgium, Italy and France whether they were aware of the upcoming new requirements and what their attitudes are towards the due diligence landscape. We wanted to better understand the scope of the challenges timber businesses are currently dealing with and the impact that outdated practices were having on operations. What better time than now, as the entire sector prepares to enter this new phase? At iov42, we strive to support businesses in achieving greater levels of value and regulatory compliance. We do this by taking blockchain-inspired technology to new levels of usefulness, taking our novel use of digital identities, assets and endorsements to provide businesses with greater levels of trust. We hope you find this research interesting and that it gets the necessary conversations started. That way, we can be as prepared as possible for the upcoming legislation and the future of the timber industry.
