26/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has welcomed the adoption, by Monday's Agriculture Council, of measures to fight the illegal exploitation of forests and the trade in wood. The Council decided: - on the implementation of voluntary partnerships to support and encourage the reform of governments in countries which have been hit hard by illegal logging; - on the drafting of a regulation bringing in a legally binding authorisation regime, with a partner countries, in order to guarantee that only wood from legal origins may be imported into the EU from these countries. "All countries which import large quantities of wood must recognise the capital role incumbent upon them in the fight against international trade in wood from illegal origins. We are paving the way for them to do this today. I would urge other countries to join us", said the Commissioner in charge of Development, Louis Michel.