(1)    This Order may be cited as the European Communities (Definition of Treaties) (2006 International Tropical Timber Agreement) Order 2008.

(2)    This Order shall come into force on the date on which the treaty specified in the Schedule enters into force for the United Kingdom. This date will be notified in the London, Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes.

The Treaty specified in the Schedule is to be regarded as one of the Community Treaties as defined in section 1(2) of the European Communities Act 1972.

Judith Simpson

Clerk of the Privy Council

The 2006 International Tropical Timber Agreement signed in New York by the European Community on 2 November 2007 and by the United Kingdom on the 19 December 2007.

This Order declares the 2006 International Tropical Timber Agreement, signed by the United Kingdom on 19 December 2007, to be a Community Treaty as defined in section 1(2) of the European Communities Act 1972. The Agreement, which has been negotiated under the auspices of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), replaces the 1994 International Tropical Timber Agreement.

The Agreement aims to promote the expansion and diversification of international trade in tropical timber from sustainably managed and legally harvested forests and to promote the sustainable management of tropical timber producing forest.

The principal effect of declaring this Agreement to be a Community Treaty as so defined is that the provisions of section 2 of the European Communities Act 1972 (which provide for the general implementation of Community Treaties) apply to it.

A full Regulatory Impact Assessment has not been produced for this instrument as it has no impact on the costs of business, charities or voluntary bodies.