Responsible Timber

About BVRio’s Legality Verification System

BVRio Responsible Timber is a due diligence and risk assessment app designed to assist traders and buyers in avoiding timber products from illegal sources. The system is initially focused on compliance with Brazilian laws and is particularly useful to buyers operating in Europe and the US, where they have to ensure compliance with the EU Timber Regulation and the US Lacey Act.

The app is part of BVRio's Timber Products Legality Verification System, a component of BVRio's Responsible Timber Exchange, a trading platform for legal and/or certified timber products of legal origin. It is part of a due diligence system that consists of a framework of procedures and measures designed to assess the compliance with the applicable legislation, to facilitate the traceability of the chain of custody and to identify evidences of possible fraud and illegality.

The System allows the user to submit the Timber Transportation Permits (Guias Florestais) related to specific timber products and receive reports of compliance with regulatory requirements. In the future, new versions will incorporate other countries (including West African countries).

The results presented in the Legality Verification System are derived from verification and cross checking of various publicly available databases and internal analyses performed by BVRio, including spatial satellite imagery analysis and verification of databases of infraction of labour legislation, illegal deforestation, environmental infractions and tax compliance. The information gathered is cross-checked and analysed to detect inconsistencies and evidences of possible fraud and illegality. All information and documentation are stored and made available for independent auditing.

The development of BVRio’s Legality Verification System benefited from input, contributions, and support from various organisations. To ensure that the systems operate in a transparent and consistent way, an Advisory Board was created with the participation of the following organisations: Imaflora (Brazilian FSC certification NGO), Imazon (Pará-based NGO), Instituto Centro Vida (ICV, Mato Grosso based NGO), WWF Brasil, WRI - World Resources Institute Brasil, and Amata (Brazilian FSC certified timber products company).

The Timber Legality Verification System is component of BVRio Responsible Timber Exchange, launched in 2016. The Responsible Timber Exchange, is a trading platform with the objective to promote the use of tropical wood products from legal sources. The system and the Exchange are currently focused on timber products from Brazil. With UK aid from the UK Government, BVRio will be expanding the system internationally, starting with West African countries.

More information:

> BVRio Responsible Timber Exchange - http://timber.bvrio.org
> BVRio Institute - www.bvrio.org