Press Release,

City of Hamburg, Germany

August 11th, 2006

 

Hamburg accepts Malaysian forest certificate

 

From now on, Malaysian tropical timber may be used for buildings and civil works of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, as far as it is certified by the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC). The Hamburg Business Development Department (Behörde für Wirtschaft und Arbeit) has reached an agreement with MTCC for the preliminary acceptance of MTCC's certificates for tropical timber from sustainable forestry. For this reason, according to a Senate's decision from December 3rd 1996, also tropical timber that will have been certified until May 31st 2008, may be used for public buildings and works of companies owned by cities.

 

The preliminary acceptance is based on the implementation of a project, initiated by the Department of Economy (Wirtschaftsbehörde), which controls on the ground if the certification complies with the political and professional requirements of Hamburg and develops an amelioration and adjustment of the terms of certification in cooperation with MTCC.

 

By the end of the biennial project, the decision is due if Hamburg definitely accepts the Malaysian certification process. Therefore ecological criteria like the consideration of nature and species protection, sustainability of timber harvest, gentle harvesting methods as well as social criteria like safety at work, the possibility to organise in trade unions etc. are taken into account.

 

The Institute for World Forestry (Institut für Weltforstwirtschaft) of the University of Hamburg has been assigned for the implementation of the project. Within a "Public Private Partnership" the Gesellschaft für technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), the Gesamtverband Deutscher Holzhandel (Association of German timber traders) and MTCC cooperate with the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (Business Development Department).

 

 

[Translation: Pro REGENWALD, Lilli Schmidt]

 

For more details:

Behörde für Wirtschaft und Arbeit

Arne v. Maydell, Pressestelle

Tel: +49-40-42841 2049 or 3015, Fax: +49-40-4279 41 481

Email: pressestelle@bwa.hamburg.de