Imposing a penalty on trade in illegal and imported timber
Currently, the Code of Administrative Violations already provides for penalties for illegal felling and infringement of tree felling rules, but no sanctions have been imposed on infringements of the requirements of the Regulation in respect of imported timber or timber products. The amendments provide for full compliance with the requirements of the Regulation – impose national sanctions on infringements of the requirements of the Regulation. It is planned that the first placing on the market of imported illegally harvested timber or timber products derived from them is subject to a penalty of between 100 and 700 euros, while legal persons – between 1000 and 14000 euros, confiscating these timber or timber products or without confiscation. On the other hand, the failure to carry out checks on the legality of timber and timber products and the failure to provide a system of legality checks to natural persons will be subject to a warning or a fine of between 100 and 700 euros, while the legal persons will be subject to a warning or impose a fine of between 500 and 7000 euros.
Similarly, the Code of Administrative Violations provides for a penalty for violation of hunting rules or violation of other forms of animal use, however it is not applicable to violation of the rules on the feeding of wild feathered game. It is therefore necessary to clarify the administrative infringement legislation so that the penalty can also be applied in respect of breaches of the rules on the feeding of wild feathered game. This is particularly important when the control of feeding rules is necessary due to the spread of African swine fever in Latvia.
More information regarding amendments to the Latvian Administrative Violations Code, which was announced on Thursday, October 2, was announced at the State Secretaries' Meeting, available on THE CABINET of MINISTERS website: http://tap.mk.gov.lv/lv/mk/tap/?pid=40335473. The amendments will still be considered in the government and the Saeima.
The information was prepared by:
LR Ministry of Agriculture
Victoria Kalniņa
public relations specialist
phone: 67027622
viktorija.kalnina@zm.gov.lv