On April 27, a Hamburg based timber merchant was sentenced in the first instance by the Hamburg district court to imprisonment of 21 months on probation and a fine of € 200,000 for illegal timber imports from Myanmar to Germany. Other employees were also found guilty. The company is said to have imported teak from Myanmar several times between 2008 and 2011 despite an embargo. The court considered it proven that the Foreign Trade Act was violated in this way in 31 cases. However, the judgment is not yet final, as the revision is sought.

In a statement and to Fordaq, the management stated that the majority of the deliveries in question were imported from Taiwan - not with the intention of re-declaring Myanmar teak, as assumed by the court - and that corresponding guarantees of origin are available. Although there was a trade embargo for teak from Myanmar during the period, there was none for teak from Taiwan, where the wood was processed and purchased by the local timber merchants. So it is time to ask what certificates of origin are really worth. In order to clarify this for teak, the timber merchant is now seeking a supreme court decision from the German Federal Court of Justice.