Ukrainian roundwood export ban signed by the president

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zn.ua/Fordaq
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Following a long anticipation period, Ukrainian president Poroshenko finally signed the law №1362 on a 10-year ban of unprocessed wood export, reports Verkhovna Rada (Parliament of Ukraine) on its official website. 

Back in April, Verkhovna Rada adopted the law in question. It's been 3 months now and such an extensive pause caused President Poroshenko being sued on June 12, 2015. 

According to the Ukrainian website zn.ua, the claimant turned out to be one of the major European veneer manufacturers "Euroshpon-Smiga". The Ukrainian Association of the woodworking companies (UAWC) expressed its determination to participate in the litigation as well. 

As a result of the long litigation procedure and reciprocal claims, the law was signed on July 7, 2015. A number of international trade relations experts are of an opinion that the decision making delay may be due to the international obligation compliance risks (among which the obligations to EU and WTO) Ukraine might face, reports zn.ua

The law in question stipulates a temporary ban for the following: unprocessed wood including raw wood, such as roundwood in the form of logs, poles etc. with moisture content exceeding 22% and sawn timber with the thickness exceeding 70 mm and moisture content more than 22%. The ban comes into force for all species with the exception of pine - effective November 1, 2015, and for pine - effective January 1, 2017. Moreover, according to this law, oak is included in the list of rare and valuable wood species. The legislative draft does not mention if oak exports are to be banned. 

As reported before, the legislative draft №1362 was favourably voted by 277 deputies in the first reading on February 5, 2015. A number of amendments was introduced to the draft in the second reading. 


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