The number of illegal logging cases in Romania reached 34,870 during 2015. This makes for 96 cases every day.
This represents a very important increase considering the 62 cases per day that happened between 2013 and 2014. Also, in 2012, there were 50 cases of illegal logging per day, as reported by Romania Insider following a Greenpeace Romania report.
For 68% of the cases, which were considered misdemeanors, the authorities gave penalties which reached EUR 6.6 million. The other percentage of cases, which rose at about 30%, were considered crimes.
The county that had the highest number of illegal logging cases was Arges, with 3,087 cases during 2015, followed by Vrancea, with 2,893 cases. Bacau county registered 1,882 cases.
As reported by Romania Insider, most of the 11,060 crimes registered nationwide were reported in Bacau (697), Arges (691), and Gorj (676) counties. Moreover, in terms of sanctions applied, Arges county again ranked first with total fines of some EUR 600,900, followed by Olt county with EUR 526,444, and Ilfov with total sanctions of EUR 451,888. These three counties accounted for almost a quarter of the sanctions’ total value (23.94%).
Almost 17% of the timber transports made in 2015 weren’t registered in the database of the system as to prevent the illegal logging and support the law.
