With the approach of the Christmas and New Year holidays, the problem of offenses related to the illegal felling and sale of coniferous trees becomes especially relevant. During this period, pine and Christmas trees are in high demand, which often leads to cases of their unauthorized felling.
Every year, according to official statistics, almost millions of young pine and spruce saplings are cut down in Ukraine before the New Year holidays, and hundreds of thousands of trees are barbarically left with their tops, which outwardly resemble young trees.
In order to strengthen state control over the protection of forests from illegal felling of green plantations, as well as compliance with the requirements of environmental legislation when harvesting and selling coniferous plantations in the pre-New Year period, the State Environmental Inspectorate in the Kharkiv region warns of possible violations.
Entrepreneurs who transport and sell such products must have a forestry invoice, a freight bill, a certificate of radiation inspection of trees, a wet-seal trade permit, and each tree cut must have an electronic chip with a barcode of the forestry where it was grown.
It should be noted that according to Article 65 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, liability for illegal logging, damage, transportation and storage of illegally logged forest products entails the imposition of a fine.
The legislation also provides for liability for violation of the procedure for the purchase and sale of objects of the plant world. The sanction of Art. 88-1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses provides for the imposition of a fine from 510 to 1700 UAH. with possible confiscation of objects of the plant world. Therefore, not only the seller, but also the buyer of an "illegal" New Year tree risk appearing in court and receiving a fine.
In order to buy a Christmas tree and not become a violator, it is worth remembering that each tree must be marked.
Remember! Everyone must be responsible for preserving forest resources and not become accomplices in crimes against the environment.