The European Commission has told Romania it has one month to implement regulations to prevent timber companies from selling illegally chopped wood and timber products on the EU market.
The Commission on Wednesday said Romanian authorities had failed to effectively check operators and sanction violations. It said inconsistencies in Romanian law did not permit authorities to verify large amounts of illegally harvested timber, which represents about half of all logging in Romania.
In addition, it said, Romanian authorities are managing forests, even the ones where logging is authorized,without evaluating the impact on protected habitats as required under two EU directives.
It added there were shortcomings in public access to information about forest management plans.
The Commission also found that protected forest habitats have been lost within protected Natura 2000 sites in breach of an EU directive.
Romania’s Environment Minister Costel Alexe said in December, that almost 20 million cubic meters, which is almost half of the wood cut down annually in Romania is illegally logged.
The Commission sent a letter of formal notice to Romania, giving it a month to take the necessary measures to address shortcomings identified by the Commission.
Failing that, the Commission may decide to send a formal request to Romania to comply with EU law, explaining why the Commission considers Romania is breaching EU law
The Commission also said Romania must comply with its duty to fully implement EU legislation on ship recycling which aims to ensure that ships sailing under the flag of an EU member state are recycled in a safe and sustainable manner.
In June 2019, The Commission sent a letter of formal notice to Romania and Sweden, but compliance has still not been achieved. If Romania and Sweden, do not comply within two months, the Commission may refer the case to the EU Court of Justice.
Under the February infringement package, the Commission also urged Romania, Greece and Malta to adopt their first national air pollution control programs and to communicate them to the Commission.
Member states are obliged to limit emissions. The Directive aims at achieving levels of air quality that do not give rise to significant negative impacts on and risks to human health and the environment.
