REM Publication — Punishment of Forest-related Offenses in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Evaluation of Fines and Damages

This 5^th briefing note published by REM is part of the analysis of the Independent Observation Project for the enforcement of forest and governance law in the DRC, which covers the period from 1^st December 2010 to 31^st December 2012.

Apart from penal and administrative sanctions, civil sanctions through fines and damages should help to correct the harms and discourage the perpetration of violations. In 2002, the new forest code helped to lay down the legal foundations of a modern legal framework likely to provide the Congolese government with the appropriate tools required for an effective control of its resource. Forest control is not operational for now and the punishment of offenses is further weakened by:

♦ The non-enforcement of the available legal provisions:

o   The non-application forest transaction procedures,

o   The payment of penalties in US dollars instead of CDF,

o   The wrong computation of fine amounts

♦ Insufficient regulation or procedures:

o   The lack of a computation base for the assessment of forestry damages.

o   Weakness in terms of forestry fines in the Congo Basin.

Through this briefing note, OI formulates recommendations with regards to these shortcomings. The theme of forestry litigation includes a former note concerning the Offense Notice Report.

A forthcoming note shall complete the analysis of the specific issue of forest transaction procedure.

Learn more - Other reports and documents are also available at www.observation-rdc.info