1 EUROPEAN COMMISSION CHATHAM HOUSE EU FLEGT Initiative: Analysis of national legislation of relevance to excluding illegal timber from EU markets – Italy study Barbara Pillon Lawyer, DITESAF – University of Padua Brussels, 31 January 2006

2 Key issues: Is national legislation relevant in theory to the control of illegal timber trade? Is it relevant in practice? If it’s not relevant or adeguate, does current legislation need to be amended or improved or is a new legislation needed on the matter? Final considerations

3 Criminal legislation (1) Theft, receiving stolen goods, fraud, forgery, misdeclaration to customs, bribery and money-laundering in theory applicable to tracking illegal timber trade Receiving stolen goods: providing proof offender aware committing crime (about criminal provenance of goods and aim of getting a profit) very difficult In practice, unless complicity (Italian jurisdiction also for crimes committed in part in Italy), theft and receiving stolen goods barely relevant to illegal logging

4 Criminal legislation (2) Misdeclaration to customs:practical application depends on framework of risks analysis of customs control system and degree of checking by customs agencies Once forgery detected, serious charge (forgery, misdeclaration to customs and contraband) permitting useful investigation instruments It seems importers often show customs officers documentation, formally in compliance with legal provisions Practical application of bribery not simple, given complexity of phenomenon

5 Criminal legislation (3) Money laundering as autonomous offence. Underlying predicate offence is any deliberately committed crime;offender did not participate in that Practical application: providing proof offender aware illegal provenance of money (with reference to any underlying committed offence) very difficult Currently, few sentences on white collars (banks and financial operators) Directive 2001/97/CE, implemented by Legislative Decree No.56/2004, do not yet apply to professionals, as still not ready regulations for professionals, indicating procedures for reporting suspect activities

6 Application of national legislation: general Practical application of all options suffers from complexity of procedures and serious problems of cooperation with enforcement agencies in country of origin Enforcement agencies developed special competence in long-term fight against organised crime, but knowledge and awareness of potential relevance of national legislation need to be considerabily improved amongst customs and enforcement agencies

7 Relevant legislation with the potential for amendament Legislative Decree No.231/2001 (Corporate responsability) states legal entity, with main register office in Italy, also liable for crime committed abroad as long as the country, where crime was committed, does not prosecute that. Legal entity could be liable also for crimes on environmental matter, if not provided evidence having carried out compliance programmes for preventing crimes Legislative Decree No.42/2004 (Code of cultural goods and the landscape): by incorporating into the list of cultural goods to be protected timber and timber products from virgin forests or protected areas, by reason of specific environmental interest (ecological importance of biodiversity with threat of destruction and ethno- anthropological value)

8 Final considerations Given expertise, training and models of good practices, Forest State Body (CFS), charged of CITES controls, has interest and willingness to include more species in CITES Appendices and to develop bilateral conservation programmes with Italy’s main commercial partners Current challanges of customs authorities:improvement of international and EU cooperation, intelligence and investigating activities by information technology and exchanges of databases; sinergy with enforcement bodies and partnerships with industry Growth is forecast in voluntary initiatives (G.P.P., Friends of Forests, Corporate social responsability): incomplete but develop public awareness Trend of many Italian companies to devolve their operations into developing countries and countries in transition weakens influence by Italian stakeholders