bill presented by m.vos mp amending for the second time the bill presented by m. vos mp amending the environmental management act sustainably produced wood as amended by a memorandum of amendment parliamentary documents ii parliamentary term 2002-2003 28 631 no 8 . the minister for housing spatial planning and the environment is drawing u a model for a certificate for sustainably managed forests for a certificate for tracing systems for sustainably produced wood and for a mark indicating that the wood to which it has been applied has been produced by sustainable methods. permission to use the certificates is granted on application to a body accredited by the council for accreditation or by an organisation with which the council for accreditation has an international mutual recognition agreement for assessing sustainable forest management and for assessing a tracing system for sustainably produced wood. the bodys assessment guideline must be approved by the minister for housing planning and the environment. article 9.4 contains an equivalence clause for that body and that assessment guideline. the holder of a certificate for sustainably managed forests is entitled to apply the above mentioned mark to wood originating from the area to which the certificate applies. the holder of a certificate for tracing systems for sustainably produced wood may apply the mark to wood originating from an area to which a certificate for sustainably managed forests applies. amendments have been made to the previously notified bill that considerably reduce the impact that the measure could have on the internal market -in its previously notified form the bill contained a combination of positive and negative incentives consumers would always notice on wood products or on the packaging thereof a mark with information about their origin. the negative incentive i.e. the requirement to apply a mark to wood products for which it cannot be demonstrated that they originate from an area in which wood is produced using sustainable methods has now been omitted from the regulation. the positive incentive remains the ability to lay down clear and unambiguous requirements pertaining to forest management a system of checking whether these requirements are being satisfied and the guarantee that the information that consumers are given when they buy wood products is reliable. producers and traders of wood can decide themselves whether they want to apply for certificates that give them the right to apply the positive mark. -in addition the bill is simplified with regard to assessment of the management plan a separate approval for the management plan is no longer required but rather assessment of the management plan is part of the assessment plan from the outset. this leads to a reduced administrative burden. -an improvement is introduced with regard to the certificates which brings the bill into line with practices in the trade chain for sustainably produced wood and reduces the administrative burden. whereas the previously notified bill referred to one certificate indicating the name and address of the parties who put the wood products onto the dutch market the bill now refers to two certificates a certificate for sustainably managed forests and a certificate for tracing systems for sustainably produced wood. the first certificate is intended for the forest manager and the second for the traders in the chain. the second type of certificate guarantees amongst other things that sustainably produced wood remains well distinguished from wood that is not or cannot be demonstrated to be sustainably produced. a wood trader who trades in wood originating from a forest for which a certificate for sustainably managed forests has been issued but which has not yet had the mark applied to it may apply this mark if he possesses a certificate for tracing systems