The management of the Forestry Development Authority has denied report by some media outlets that illegal Liberian timber worth thousands of Euros was sitting in the French port less than three weeks before the new EU law prohibiting the import of illegal timber came into force.
The FDA Management says that the European Timber regulations came into effect as of March 3, 2013, that does not in any way mean that timbers entering the EU prior to that that time were illegal (expo facto) after the fact.
In a release the FDA stated that it was important to note that all logging activities carried out by logging companies during the stay order by the Supreme Court which took effect as of end of August to October 22, 2012 were undertaken prior to this date.
According to the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) the shipment cited by the report were therefore not in breach of Liberian law because it is clear that all logs fell prior to October 22, 2012 ruling of the Supreme Court were exempted from the prohibition.
Comments Post a comment