Romanian President Klaus Iohannis
\non Friday promulgated the new Forestry Code, after Parliament had rejected his
\nrequest for the law to be reexamined. On May 20th the Chamber of
\nDeputies, as decision-making body, rejected the President’s request and passed
\nthe law in its initial version. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The President’s request had been
\npreviously met with opposition from the Senate as well. In March, Klaus
\nIohannis said in his request for reexamination that the provisions of
\nthis law would arbitrarily limit the activity of companies, which would create
\nadvantages for some and disadvantages for others, have a negative impact on
\ncompetition and give rise to situations when the Romanian state, as an EU
\nmember, could be accused of violating its own commitments. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
According to president Iohannis, the introduction of the maximum
\nthreshold of 30% upon the purchase or processing wood from Romania’s forests
\nand the pre-emption right for furniture producers when buying wood will violate
\nthe principles of economic and contractual freedom underlying the market
\neconomy. The Romanian President can send the law
\nback to Parliament for reexamination only once but he can challenge it at the
\nConstitutional Court, something he says he does not plan to do. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Unhappy with the fact that they were not allowed
\nto propose any amendments to the bill after its adoption by Parliament, the
\nLiberals, in opposition, suggested a project that they wanted included in the
\nlaw on national security, stipulating that the illegal deforestation of more
\nthan 1 hectare should be considered a threat to national security. President
\nIohannis has recently announced that the issue of illegal deforestation will be
\ndiscussed at the meeting of the Supreme Defense Council on Tuesday. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In Bucharest and several other cities, thousands
\nof people have been protesting lately against the deforestation and illegal
\nlogging of the last years. Protesters are calling on the authorities to pass
\nlaws likely to ensure a transparent exploitation of the natural resources that
\nneed to be preserved and considered national heritage. They are also calling on
\ndecision-makers to carry out more thorough checks at the wood processors, put
\nan end to illegal deforestation, ban the unprocessed wood exports indefinitely
\nand strengthen control institutions and the means of monitoring the transports
\nof logs and timber. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Government proposed last month that timber
\nand firewood exports should be suspended until August 31st. As of
\nthis date until the yearend wood trade should be strictly monitored. All these
\nmeasures have formed part of two emergency ordinances aimed at regulating the
\nwood market more strictly. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has promulgated the new Forestry Code<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64256,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[29077,28945,29268],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-64255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-forestry-code","tag-klaus-iohannis","tag-parliament"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n