During the Cabinet Meeting, Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze spoke about illicit timber cuts and unlawful use of forest resources, noting that it is essential to tighten sanctions.

“It is important to tighten the sanctions in this area due to the fact that there are doubts about the existence of various cases of illegal forest use. In order to take preventive measures, it is important to tighten the sanctions. In accordance with our decision, the Ministry [MEPA] has prepared the relevant draft law, which provides for the tightening of responsibility in various directions. Amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Offenses have been drafted. According to the amendments, the sanction for violation of the registration requirements by the sawmill becomes tougher. Until now, there was a prison sentence of up to 1 year, and a new sanction is defined from 1 to 3 years. Also, a new provision – Article 287.2 will be added to the Criminal Code, which refers to the placement of unmarked round timber, aka logs, on the territory of the sawmill. Previously only administrative liability was promulgated for this offense, now criminal liability is determined – we are talking about imprisonment for a term of 1 to 3 years. If a large amount of round timber is placed illegally, in this case imprisonment from 3 to 5 years is envisaged as a sanction.

Sanctions are also being tightened on logging and manufacturing the core plants. The amendments also establish criminal responsibility for the illegal cutting of a large amount of core plants in a state forest or protected area and envisage 5 to 7 years of imprisonment. Sanctions are also being tightened on the illegal transportation of round timber. Here too there is a severe sanction – imprisonment from 3 to 5 years. This Draft Law will be submitted to the Parliament in the next few days and we hope for the support of the legislators.

The forest is something that we should take special care of. The forest is a special wealth of our country, which should be preserved for future generations, and that is what the preventive measures have been worked out for and reflected in the relevant laws,” stated the Prime Minister of Georgia.