EU reactie op MO aanvraag TimberChecker d.d. 26 maart 2014

woensdag 26 maart 2014
Onderwerp: RE: TimberChecker's application for MO

Dear applicant,

The following is to inform you about changes in the organisation of evaluation process of applications for monitoring organisations.

The Commission contracted an external consultancy to help evaluate applications for monitoring organisations. The consultancy is a consortium of three organisations: "Indufor", "Efeca" and the University of Padua. The consultancy`s task is to study the written application; to assess whether it meet the statutory requirements as set out in the Regulation (EU) 995/2010 (the EUTR) and detailed in the two Commission regulations; the guidance document and the operational documents uploaded on the Commission webpage. The consultancy will produce an assessment report on the merits of application and propose the Commission to request clarification/additional information if need be.

The consultancy will follow the methodology elaborated by the Commission. Final decision to recognise a candidate stays with the Commission and recognition procedure remains unchanged. The Commission will keep contacting applicants with requests for additional information, clarification and or documentation. Applications and reports from the consultancy will be considered in the Commission Steering group (SG) on the MO, proposal for recognition of candidates will be put forward by the SG and recognition decision will be taken by the Commission.  For minor issues applicants may occasionally be contacted directly by the consultancy.

The change in organisation for handling applications was prompted by a backlog of applications and the need to be handled quickly. The objective is to speed up the evaluation process and provide operators with more recognised MO to assist them in complying with obligations laid down in the EUTR. We believe all applications received by now will be processed within the course of 2014.

Should you have questions on the changes in the organisation of evaluation process, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Best regards,

 

European Commission