The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, will not sign the law No. 9665, which aims to strengthen responsibility for the illegal circulation of wood.
This was reported by the adviser to the President of Ukraine, Dmytro Lytvyn, in a comment for the BBC.
"The president will not sign this law," he said, but did not give reasons for this.
The official also said that due to technical reasons, the time for the veto has passed.
Why was the new law on wood adopted?
Experts claim that draft law No. 9665 "On Amendments and Additions to the Criminal Code of Ukraine and the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses on Improving Liability for Offenses in the Field of Forest Use and Combating Illegal Trafficking in Timber" is primarily aimed at combating illegal logging and logging wood In it, the lawmakers strengthened the responsibility for those who are engaged in massive felling and processing of wood.
According to draft law No. 9665, criminal liability arises for the storage of wood worth:
- more than UAH 30,000 – a fine of UAH 34,000 to 51,000 or imprisonment for up to 3 years;
- more than UAH 90,000 – a fine of UAH 170,000 to 425,000 or imprisonment for 5 to 7 years.
In addition, the law makers extended this responsibility to illegal logging in parks, squares and nature reserves.
Why there was a public outcry
In the first days of November, more than 3 weeks after the approval of the draft law by the parliament, deputies, as well as other media persons, began to raise a wave of indignation against the new document, which came to be called the "firewood law". They began to scare people with huge fines and even imprisonment for storing firewood to heat their own homes.
What experts say about draft law No. 9665
Dmytro Karabchuk, head of the board of the NGO "Forest Initiatives and Society", claims that this document could give law enforcement officers tools to effectively fight against industrial timber smuggling.
"Instead, people were instilled with fear, associating it with the presence of firewood near the house!!! People simply began to be afraid to have firewood near the house! Absurdity!" – he was indignant.
The expert considers the campaign against this draft law to be a successful IPSO, created so that the Office of the President does not recommend the head of state to sign the law "which black loggers and their followers are afraid of."
"Today you won, and the collective mind of my citizens lost. The country did not get a chance to increase revenues in the budgets, in particular, communities, the forest and its inhabitants – to protect against illegal logging, society – to improve social justice," concluded Dmytro Karabchuk.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that on October 10 the Verkhovna Rada adopted Law No. 9665 , which provides for stricter liability for forest destruction, illegal logging and prevents illegal timber traffic.
