The European Union agreed the EU Timber Regulations (EUTR) in 2010, making it illegal as of 3 March 2013 for any company to place illegally harvested timber or products made from illegal timber on the EU market.
The new EUTR have important implications for Chinese companies exporting wood products or timber into the EU which may have been logged illegally because China has become the world’s biggest importer of wood products. The EU is also China's second biggest market for wood products.