Luxury yacht builder fined for using blood teak imported from Myanmar

A tribunal has fined a British luxury yacht builder for importing wood from Myanmar linked to the illegal timber trade, often referred to arsenic humor teak.

Sunseeker International, based successful Poole, Dorset, was fined £358,760 pursuing a proceeding astatine the Bournemouth Crown Court connected Friday.

The lawsuit marks the archetypal prosecution nether the UK Timber Regulation (UKTR), a post-Brexit authorities that replaced the EU Timber Regulation. Sunseeker pleaded blameworthy to 3 charges, including nonaccomplishment to workout owed diligence successful timber sourcing. The charges subordinate to 11 circumstantial imports for which the institution paid astir £60,000.

International request for Myanmar teak, prized for its water-resistant properties, has been a cardinal gross root for the country’s subject junta, which seized powerfulness successful February 2021.

Sanctions from the EU, UK and US connected the ruling regime, which oversees the timber exports, person efficaciously made each teak imports from Myanmar illegal.

Judge Jonathan Fuller KC, portion imposing fine, noted that Sunseeker was alert of the changes successful timber import regulations aft Brexit, which redefined the firm’s presumption from “trader” to “operator”. He labelled its actions a "systemic failure".

The justice ordered the institution to wage a full of £358,759.64 covering a good and prosecution costs.

Sunseeker International, successful a connection to The Independent, attributed the “unintended failure” to “a alteration successful authorities connected 1 January 2021, pursuing the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union”, adding that Brexit imposed “additional owed diligence obligations” erstwhile sourcing timber from the EU.

The institution said it had “fully cooperated with the (Office for Product Safety and Standards) passim its investigation, accepted work astatine an aboriginal stage, and has taken decisive steps to rectify the issue, by implementing a robust timber procurement argumentation and a UKTR-compliant owed diligence process”.

Sunseeker’s committee expressed regret implicit the lapse, regretting the “company’s nonaccomplishment successful gathering its responsibilities nether the UKTR and underlines its ongoing committedness to compliance with laws and regulations”.

The Environmental Investigation Agency, a UK-based planetary NGO, hailed the court’s determination arsenic a milestone successful tackling amerciable timber trade.

The group’s forests run leader, Faith Doherty, described the ruling arsenic sending “a wide and unequivocal message” to different luxury yacht manufacturers worldwide.

“Using humor teak from conflict-torn Myanmar is wholly unacceptable and volition outgo them dearly successful the end,” she said.

Ms Doherty said the lawsuit should service arsenic a catalyst for further action, noting that timber traders person continued to flout the instrumentality without consequence. "This lawsuit changes that," she said. "It should beryllium utilized arsenic the landmark it is for really utilizing these laws with the due penalties this transgression deserves."