Regulation (EU) No 995/2010 aims, in particular, at minimising the risk of placing illegal timber and products derived from such timber on the internal market. Monitoring organisations should assist operators in meeting the requirements of that Regulation. To that end, they should develop a due diligence system, grant the operators the right to use it, and verify its proper use.

The procedure under which the Commission recognises monitoring organisations should be fair, transparent and independent. Therefore, applicants should be assessed after consulting the competent authorities of the Member States and after collecting sufficient information about an applicant. Where necessary, the collection of information should include visits to an applicant’s premises.

It is necessary to specify the appropriate expertise and capacity that monitoring organisations should have in order to determine the compliance of wood with relevant legislation in its country of harvest and to propose measures to assess the risk of placing illegal timber and products derived from such timber on the market. Where the risk identified is not negligible, monitoring organisation should also be able to propose adequate measures to effectively minimising it.

It should be ensured that monitoring organisations exercise their functions in a transparent and independent manner, avoiding any conflict of interest arising out of their functions and providing their services to operators in a non-discriminatory manner.

The Commission should decide upon a withdrawal of recognition following a procedure, which is fair, transparent and independent. Before taking a decision the Commission should consult the Member States’ competent authorities concerned and should collect sufficient information, including on-the-spot visits where necessary. The monitoring organisation concerned should be given the opportunity to submit comments before a decision is taken.

In accordance with the principle of proportionality, the Commission should be able to withdraw recognition either in a temporary and/or conditional basis, or permanently, as it may deem required by the level of shortcomings detected, where a monitoring organisation no longer fulfils the functions or meets the requirements laid down in Article 8 of Regulation (EU) No 995/2010.

It is necessary to ensure that the level of protection of individuals with regard to the processing of their personal data within the scope of this Regulation, in particular as regards the processing of personal data in the applications for recognition as a monitoring organisation complies with the requirements laid down in Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individual with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data and with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data,