Posted on November, 22 2011

The US Lacey Act, the European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) and the Australian Illegal Logging Prohibition Act all represent major milestones in international efforts to curb illegal logging through application of trade controls. While strong policies are critically important for mainstreaming responsible forestry and trade, there is often a gap between the development of market-based legislation and its practical implementation.

Acting as a support to these policy developments is The Common Framework for Assessing Legality of Forestry Operations, Timber Processing and Trade – also known as the Common Legality Framework – a simple checklist developed by WWF/GFTN and TRAFFIC to enable governments and companies to access and understand relevant aspects of the laws, regulations, administrative circulars and contractual obligations that affect forestry operations, timber processing and trade. When the Common Legality Framework is applied to a specific country, this is known as a National Legality Framework.


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This publication is produced by TRAFFIC and WWF’s Global Forest & Trade Network with support from the Australian and U.S. Government-funded Responsible Asia Forestry & Trade partnership (RAFT), the European Union and IKEA.

The RAFT partnership is a regional programme that provides capacity building and knowledge sharing services to Asia Pacific countries in support of their efforts to promote trade in responsibly harvested and manufactured wood products. RAFT is supported by the Australian and U.S. Governments and implemented by a consortium of leading conservation organizations committed to managing and using forests responsibly (www.responsibleasia.org).

The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of TRAFFIC & WWF/GFTN and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of RAFT, the European Union or IKEA.