This includes, inter alia, floor coatings and floor paints; products which are tinted by distributors at the request of amateur or professional decorators; tinting systems; decorative paints in liquid or paste formulas which may have been pre-conditioned, tinted or prepared by the manufacturer to meet consumers needs, including wood paints, wood and decking stains, masonry coatings and metal finishes (excluding anti-corrosion finishes and primers) as well as primers (and undercoats) of such product systems.

The process of adoption, started under the Netherlands Presidency and completed under the United Kingdom Presidency, paves the way for a new licensing scheme under which specified timber products exported from a partner country and arriving in the EU at any customs point designated for release for free circulation must be covered by a FLEGT licence issued by the partner country, stating that the timber products have been produced from domestic timber that was legally harvested or from timber that was legally imported into a Partner Country in accordance with national laws as laid down in the respective Partnership Agreement.

[1] Throughout the document the term 'timber' is used to refer to roundwood and rough sawnwood. The term 'timber products' implies additional further processing.

Particular consideration, however, will be given to operations that promote the following: (a) conservation of primary tropical forests and their biodiversity and renewal of tropical forests which have been damaged, supported by analysis of the underlying causes of deforestation and taking into account differences between countries and regions and measures to address them; (b) sustainable management of forests designated for the production of timber and other products, but excluding commercial logging operations in primary tropical forests, except those which are community-based, on a small scale, sustainable, environmentally sound and implementing sustainable forest management; (c) the definition and development of certification systems, ...[+++] combined with independent assessment systems, for timber produced from tropical forests according to sustainable forest management principles as part of internationally harmonized certification systems envisaged for all kinds of timber and timber products; (d) provision of prior information to forest peoples, followed by their support for the identification, planning and implementation of actions; (e) capacity-building to address the needs for training schemes for local populations, forest managers and researchers, for legislation, for increased political and social support and institutional strengthening and for organizations and associations active in forest conservation; (f) a strategic and adapted research policy aimed at supplying the knowledge required for the conservation and sustainable management of forests and also for the implementation of research monitoring activities in the framework of projects and programmes; (g) development of buffer zones to assist the conservation or regeneration of tropical forests, as part of a broader land utilization plan; (h) development and implementation of forest management plans aimed at conserving tropical forests and promoting sustainable exploitation of timber and other forest ...

With respect to pressure-treated lumber: (a) what chemicals are approved for use in treating pressured lumber/wood; (b) what are the accepted levels for each of these chemicals used to treat this lumber; (c) what testing procedures has the federal government established to ensure companies use satisfactory levels; and (d) what has the government done to ensure there are ample health safeguards from these materials both before and after installation?

The Commission is to provide assistance worth ECU 8.8 million (comprising ECU 7.8 million from the European Regional Development Fund and ECU 1 million from the European Social Fund) to combat social exclusion and unemployment in the Quartiers Nord of Aulnay-sous-Bois in the Ile-de-France.