Forest Code debates – good news and bad news

FOREST CODE DEBATE UPDATE – good news and bad news

In today’s debate in Parliament’s specialist committee, the “Schweighofer Amendment” was rejected, while the expansion of the definition of “timber materials” (to block one of the most widely used methods of timber theft) was adopted.
Illegal timber transport (without documents of origin) becomes a criminal offence, with the penalty accompanied by confiscation of the vehicles used!

Destructive logging in national parks will continue.
Congratulations to Senator Mihai Goțiu for his exemplary involvement throughout the legislative process. We urge the Senator not to give up until he saves the national parks too!
Also today, discussions concluded and the expansion of the definition of timber materials was adopted, to stop the “Shredder Method” of laundering illegally logged forests on paper. The proposal was initiated by Senator Goțiu following this report: https://stirileprotv.ro/…/dezastru-in-muntii-rodnei-copacii…
The petition initiated by Declic in support of this amendment gathered almost 50,000 signatures.
Other amendments already adopted (discussed at previous meetings) include a transition, by 2025, to Romsilva selling/placing timber on the market predominantly as cut timber (specifically, measuring timber when it is sold at the primary landing — loaded onto lorries — rather than as standing timber in the forest, which involves approximations/margins of error behind which illegal logging is concealed).
Actual measurement and traceability of the legal origin of timber placed on the market are two of the European Commission’s demands in the ultimatum sent to Romania a month ago over illegal logging, before taking our country to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The change from an administrative offence to a criminal offence for timber transports exceeding 10 cubic metres without documents was also adopted, accompanied by CONFISCATION of the vehicles used for transport.
Compared with the version adopted by the Senate (the first chamber consulted), the provision to stop main harvesting in national parks was dropped, while the provisions on access to forests on foot and by bicycle and on how environmental assessments are carried out were amended.
The Forest Code amendments are to receive reports from the Environment and Legal Committees of the Chamber of Deputies, followed by a plenary vote. The struggle continues.