Paragraph 2 Legal frameworkF1
The country in which the forest biomass was harvested has in place a legal framework, including monitoring and enforcement systems, to ensure that—
the forest biomass has been harvested in accordance with applicable laws;
the area of harvesting of the forest biomass is subject to forest regeneration, and for this purpose “forest regeneration” means the re-establishment of a forest stand by natural or artificial means following the removal of the previous stand by felling or as a result of natural causes, including fire or storm;
the forest biomass has not been harvested from wetlands, peatlands or from a protected area, unless—
the land is designated for nature protection purposes; and
the production of the relevant feedstock did not interfere with the purposes for which the land is designated for nature protection purposes;
the harvesting of the forest biomass has been carried out with consideration for the maintenance of, and with the aim of minimising any decline in, soil quality and biodiversity; and
the harvesting of the forest biomass has been carried out in a manner that maintains or improves the long-term production capacity of the forest from which it was harvested.
But if evidence is not available to demonstrate that the legal framework described in sub-paragraph (1) is in place in the country concerned, then the Administrator must be satisfied that management systems at the forest sourcing area level were in place in that country to ensure that the conditions in sub-paragraph (1)(a) to (e) were met.
In this Schedule, “sourcing area” means the geographically defined area from which the forest biomass is sourced, from which reliable and independent information is available to show that the conditions in sub-paragraph (1)(a) to (e) were met, and where conditions are sufficiently homogeneous to evaluate the risk of the sustainability and legality characteristics of the forest biomass.