More than half of local authorities admit they do not have a timber procurement policy to protect them against EU regulations coming into force next year, according to new research from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

From 3 March 2013, the EU Timber Regulation will ban illegally-harvested timber and timber products from the UK. Yet out of 124 councils surveyed across the UK, the WWF found that only 16 were effectively implementing a compliant timber policy.