30.12.2005 Official Journal of the European Union L 3471 | (Acts whose publication is obligatory) COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2173/2005 of 20 December 2005 on the establishment of a FLEGT licensing scheme for imports of timber into the European Community THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 133 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Whereas: The Council and the European Parliament welcomed the Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on an EU Action Plan for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) as a first step towards tackling the urgent issue of illegal logging and associated trade. The Action Plan puts emphasis on governance reforms and capacity building, supported by actions aimed at developing multilateral cooperation and complementary demand-side measures designed to reduce the consumption of illegally harvested timber and contri- buting to the wider objective of sustainable forest management in timber-producing countries. The Action Plan identifies the setting up of a licensing scheme as a measure to ensure that only timber products that have been legally produced in accordance with the national legislation of the producing country may enter the Community, and emphasises that that licensing scheme should not impede legitimate trade. Implementation of the licensing scheme requires that imports of relevant timber products into the Community be made subject to a system of checks and controls seeking to guarantee the legality of such products. To this end the Community should conclude voluntary Partnership Agreements with countries and regional (10) organisations, which are to place a legally binding obli- gation on a partner country or regional organisation to implement the licensing scheme within the schedule stipulated in each Partnership Agreement. Under the licensing scheme, certain timber products exported from a partner country and entering the Community at any customs point designated for release for free circulation should be covered by a licence issued by the partner country, stating that the timber products have been produced from domestic timber that was legally harvested or from timber that was legally imported into a partner country in accordance with national laws as set out in the respective Partnership Agreement. Compliance with those rules should be subject to third-party monitoring. The competent authorities of the Member States should verify that each shipment is covered by a valid licence prior to releasing the shipment covered by that licence for free circulation in the Community. Each Member State should determine the penalties applicable in the event of infringements of this Regu- lation. The licensing scheme should initially cover a limited range of timber products. When agreed, the range of products could be extended to other product categories. It is important to revise the Annexes specifying the countries and products covered by the licensing scheme promptly. Those revisions should take into account the progress in implementation of Partnership Agreements. A partner country may be added to Annex I after it has notified the Commission and the Commission has confirmed that this partner country has put in place all the controls needed to be able to issue licences for all the products listed in Annex II. A partner country may be removed from Annex I either when it has given one year’s notice of its intention to terminate its Partnership Agreement or with immediate effect, in the case of suspension of its Partnership Agreement.