On 6 August, the Environmental Investigation Agency reported that a court has found the defendant company broke the due diligence requirements of the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) when it imported Myanmar teak, and also upheld the penalty imposed on the company, which barred it from continuing to trade in teak. It is said that the outcome of the case vindicates EIA’s stance that imports of timber from Myanmar cannot comply with the EUTR. 2 companies, which had challenging the penalty imposed on them by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (NVWA), also tried to challenge the role of EIA in the case, but the court upheld the rights of NGO such as EIA to initiate cases by informing authorities of breaches of the law. The EIA also notes that since the case was heard, the EU has responded to the military coup in Myanmar by imposing sanctions on the Myanmar Timber Enterprise (MTE) and Forest Products Joint Venture Company (FPJVC) due to the military junta’s attempts to profit from the Myanmar timber industry.
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