12 As the adage goes, “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link”. This is as much true to the timber industry’s Chain-of-Custody requirements as it is to a harvester chain. No single NCT member is more important than the collective, and even more so where a single NCT member chooses to ignore the rules agreed on by the collective. In recent months we have made members ever vigilant of their responsibility to maintain controlled wood protocols. The NCT Code of Conduct is quite clear that members are bound by the NCT Controlled Wood Supply Policy in that no timber supplied to NCT and its markets may be: i Illegally harvested or stolen wood; ii Wood harvested in violation of civil and human rights; iii Wood harvested from indigenous forests; iv Wood from plantations in which genetically modified trees are planted; The Code further prescribes that members are obligated to supply only verifiable and legally obtained timber to NCT and its markets. This places an ethical obligation on all NCT members in their timber supply practice and, in some instances, it may constitute theft if they are ignored. Simply put, if you haven’t seen the timber then it hasn’t been verified and if you haven’t either grown it yourself or bought it legally and transactionally correct from the actual owner, it doesn’t belong to you, and you may not supply this to NCT or our markets. To get timber to the market one needs a delivery note and the Code states that delivery notes must record information that is complete, accurate and honest. This delivery note belongs to you and you only. There is no reason why members should be exchanging delivery notes with one another. Doing so would not only be in breach of the Code and Chain-of-Custody principles but also constitute fraud. The Code requires members to adhere to several legislative requirements and failure to comply with this once again constitutes a breach of the Code and may in all likelihood constitute a statutory offence. In a time and age where lawlessness and unethical practices have become “normalised”, people seem to have no fear for the rule of law (Jean Simpson – Corporate Services Manager) Read and apply the NCT Code of Conduct – or risk a chain shot!
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