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European Parliament bans illegal timber
"This law hangs up a 'closed for business' sign to a destructive market"- Sebastien Risso, Greenpeace
The European Parliament has voted to ban imports of illegal timber.
From 2012, companies importing timber will need to prove where it came from, and will face legal sanctions if they do not comply with the new law.
The vote follows several years of wrangling over how stringent the legislation should be.
Campaigners say they are pleased that the issue is to be addressed at last. About 20% of timber coming into the EU is thought to be illegal.
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Comments
Jul 08 This is Great EVERY COUNTRY should do this!!!- Elizabeth Healey
Jul 10 I wonder why does something that is already illegal needs to be declared illegal a second time. This seems to happen a lot lately.
Wouldn't something be legal it were not banned? Doesn't the label "illegal" automatically imply that something is already banned? Is it now even more illegal than it was before? Or was it illegal and legal at the same time?
- Bend
Jul 12 @Bend: you have a point, of course, but the strength of the new law may reside in the "burden of proof"; it is problably extremely difficult to prove that imported timber is illegal, whereas if the importer has to prove...
- bert van deuren
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