Last year, Switzerland opened two legal proceedings against importers of exotic wood for repeatedly failing to correctly declare their origin.
This content was published on
1 minute
Keystone-SDA/ac
The Federal Consumer Affairs Bureau (FCAB) carried out 121 checks in 2020 to ensure that wood and wood products were declared as required by law, the Federal Department of Economic Affairs (DEFR) said on Tuesday. In two checks, the FCAB found that a product whose declaration it had already criticised before was not declared satisfactorily. For the first time, two legal proceedings were filed against the companies involved.
Overall, almost a third of companies (32%) checked did not fully comply with the obligation to declare the species and origin of the wood they use. This is slightly lower than in 2019 (35%).
The majority of wrongly declared products (62%) were related to the origin of the wood and concerned mainly small companies that have never been audited before. As always, these checks were mainly aimed at companies with a relatively high risk of declaring wood incorrectly. In addition, e-commerce was subject to more checks during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Ordinance on the Declaration of Wood and Wood Products, which has been in force since 2012, stipulates an obligation to indicate the species and origin of wood and wood products that are supplied to consumers. It applies to round wood, unprocessed wood and certain solid wood products, as well as charcoal.
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
Train vs plane: would you take a direct train between London and Geneva?
Eurostar is planning to run direct trains from Britain to Germany and Switzerland from the early 2030s. Would you favour the train over the plane? If not, why not?
Government opens investigation into IKEA wood sourcing
This content was published on
The case was triggered by a complaint filed on August 31 by the Bruno Manser Fund with the Federal Department of Economy, Education and Research (DEFR) and the Federal Consumer Affairs Bureau. A DEFR spokesperson confirmed with news agency Keystone-SDA that proceedings were launched. After inspecting five IKEA branches concerned, the DEFR opened administrative criminal…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.