Appropriate legislation is an essential requirement for the protection and conservation of the environment and for sustainable forest development. Changes to improve the legal framework have been induced by a growing political awareness of environmental issues at national as well as international level.

The principal pieces of environmental legislation regulate the timber trade on different levels. Global, European and national legislation have been developed to reduce negative impacts of the timber industries on the environment as well as to assure that the trade in timber does not endanger species or eco-systems.

For instance, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species CITES (CITES international, CITES UK) is regulating and restricting the trade in threatened species. The Packaging Waste Regulations make companies accountable for the amount of packaging waste they handle.