
Lawyers at ClientEarth say that despite clear regulations, the Polish authorities are not taking sufficient action to control imports and enforce bans on the wood.
According to the data from Poland’s Central Statistical Office, between 2021 and 2024, the total value of Myanmar’s wood and wood products imported to Poland was over EUR 11 million (PLN 47 million). Poland is not the only importer of Myanmar teak in Europe: Italy, Slovenia and Croatia also import significant volumes of the wood.
ClientEarth is appealing to Poland’s Chief Inspectorate of Environmental Protection to immediately carry out inspections of timber importers from Myanmar and to enforce penalties for companies violating the law. It also requests increased transparency in the monitoring of timber supply chains and better implementation of EU regulations in Poland.
The TV loop aims to identify and take action against instances of false claims or other violations of FSC requirements.
The scope of this Eurasia birch wood panels TV loop is:
- Geographic areas: China and central and eastern European countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine).
- Product type: Plywood
- Species: Birch (Betula)
Deforestation Inc. reporters in a dozen countries investigated weak government efforts and loopholes allowing companies to keep trading Myanmar teak, a natural resource controlled by the military junta.
The Deforestation Inc. investigation by ICIJ and its 39 partners found that timber traders in three continents have continued to import Myanmar teak by the ton to supply shipbuilders and furniture manufacturers around the world, while consumers may be unwittingly financing the junta’s repressive campaign.
The reporters visited boat shows in Fort Lauderdale, Amsterdam and Paris to learn about the international teak market. They interviewed timber traders in 11 countries and pored over documents leaked from Myanmar’s tax agency and shared with ICIJ by Justice for Myanmar, a human rights group, U.K.-based news outlet Finance Uncovered and Distributed Denial of Secrets, a data transparency group.
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Cases from Slovenia, Croatia, USA, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, Turkey, Taiwan, France, and India are included.
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