ESG Enforcement Tracker

Key facts:

The EUTR requires operators in the timber trade to carry out due diligence aimed at preventing illegally harvested teakwood from entering the European market.

The OM, the Netherlands Public Prosecution Service, investigated two companies (DMPT and Mercura) and three directors of DMT, Mercura and another company, Fairwind, for alleged failures to comply with the EUTR’s due diligence requirements. The investigation related to alleged illegal imports of teakwood from Myanmar. Due to the political situation in Myanmar, it is virtually impossible for operators to comply with the due diligence requirements when importing teakwood from that country.

The OM’s investigation found that, between January 2018 and December 2019, the companies had imported 178 cubic metres of teakwood from Myanmar worth over €2.5 million. The OM suspected that the companies and directors had imported the teakwood into the EU through Fairwind, which had been set up in the Czech Republic, in order to avoid monitoring by the Dutch authorities.

In October 2022, the OM announced that it had imposed a fine of €100,000 – of which €50,000 was conditional – on DMPT and Mercura, and had sentenced the directors to community punishment orders.