Liberia: Danish Timber Giant Kicked Out of Forest Stewardship Council Certification Scheme for Trading Illegal Timber

Feb 12, 2015 | Global Witness
View Original

Danish timber giant Dalhoff Larsen and Horneman (DLH) has been expelled from the world’s leading timber certifier, the Forest Stewardship Council, following evidence presented by Global Witness that the company traded illegal timber linked to land grabbing in Liberia. FSC’s finding that DLH followed none of its own due diligence procedures casts serious doubt over law enforcement efforts by Danish authorities responsible for policing the import of illegal timber into Europe.

“Right now, consumers can’t be sure the wood they buy is legal and sustainable. FSC has done the right thing by expelling DLH, but it shows that you can’t even be sure that certified companies are trading legally”, said Patrick Alley, co-Director of Global Witness. “Danish authorities now need to explain why they found DLH legally compliant just months after Global Witness found illegal timber in front of its warehouse in France.”

FSC spent two months investigating Global Witness evidence that DLH purchased US$304,870 worth of timber from two Liberian companies in 2012, which was cut under illegal logging contracts called Private Use Permits (PUPs) and exported to Bangladesh, China and France. PUPs were ruled illegal by the Liberian government in December 2012, whose investigation into their use reported widespread fraud and corruption by logging companies and Liberian officials. Global Witness discovered these logs in front of DLH’s warehouse in France in February 2013, raising suspicions that DLH would illegally place the wood on the EU market after the entry into force of the EU’s Timber Regulation a month later. The Regulation requires companies to follow responsible sourcing standards, also known as due diligence, and not place illegal timber on the EU market. Enforcement authorities including the Danish Nature Agency are responsible for conducting checks on companies to ensure their compliance with the law.