please consult the following PDF Documents:  BFT Lescuyer et Tal 2016.pdf (860.8 Ko)

The scale and the means allotted to imports of sawn wood into Chad from Cameroon are little documented. Two surveys were carried out to produce an up-to-date diagnosis of the trade: sawn wood flows were monitored at N’Djamena and Moundou from July to December 2015, and interviews were conducted with 16 people to characterise the import and customs clearance processes in use for timber from Cameroon. According to our survey results, 79,000 m3 of timber entered Chad from Cameroon during the monitoring period, so that the annual total probably amounts to about 210,000 m3.

 This is more than double the figure estimated in 2009. Virtually all of the timber imported into Chad is “white wood” produced by small-scale logging. Only 25% of this volume is cleared through Chad’s customs. Official import procedures are time-consuming and costly in Chad. Those involved have therefore set up a “fast-track” customs clearance process for timber, characterised by bribery and under-reporting of the volumes imported. As result, Chad is losing some 3 billion F CFA in tax revenues, but the practice is highly lucrative for customs officers, freight forwarders, traders and final users of the sawn wood. Various measures can be considered to change these informal practices.

On the demand side, in Chad, legalising the trade could be facilitated by combining a change in the tax status of timber products with ad hoc penalties, at a minimum, for some of those in breach of the law and the introduction of premiums for proper law enforcement by tax inspectors. On the supply side, in Cameroon, the priority issue is more effective regulation of logging and timber trade practices in community forests. Keywords: saw-wood, customs, intra-African trade, corruption, community forest, Congo basin.

For more Information, please consult the following PDF Documents:  BFT Lescuyer et Tal 2016.pdf (860.8 Ko)