[5] On 21 October 2015, WWF filed a complaint at the Federal Forest Office in Vienna against Austrian company Holzindustrie Schweighofer for alleged violations of the European Union Timber Regulation.
The FLEGT Regulation empowers the European Commission to negotiate bilateral trade deals called Voluntary Partnership Agreements with timber-exporting countries.
[18] Among other VPA partner countries, Ghana is also in an advanced stage of implementing its timber legality assurance system ahead of FLEGT licensing.
For instance, Saskia Ozinga of the campaigning organisation FERN described the FLEGT Action Plan as "the EU's best-ever policy on tropical forests, since it's the first scheme of its kind to address the root causes of illegal logging", and gave evidence of improved governance in Ghana, Liberia and Vietnam.
[20] Anand Punja of the UK Timber Trade Federation said the Action Plan "has strongly help create a fairer and more partnership approach to sourcing than before.
"[21] Timber trade analyst Rupert Oliver said: "From what I've seen of FLEGT processes in Ghana, Liberia and Indonesia, they have succeeded in bringing groups together who for decades have been at loggerheads and including those who were excluded in the past.
[27] Since the EU adopted the FLEGT Action Plan, other markets have taken steps to prevent trade in illegal timber products.