The German Timber Promotion Fund – Germany’s equivalent of the UK wood for good campaign – has been forced to stop operations following a court ruling over its funding.
The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe ruled that the organisation’s (also known as Holzabsatzfonds and “German Timber”) funding system, which required mandatory contributions from sawmills and forest owners, was “unconstitutional” and violated entrepreneurial freedom.
The court also opened the door for reimbursement to companies which had previously officially protested about having to pay charges.
Thus the German Timber Promotion Fund, which had been under the supervision of the federal government, was left without a funding system to continue its work and its marketing activities are effectively ended.
Norbert Buddendick, a manager at sawmilling organisation Bundesverband der Säge- und Holzindustrie Deutschland (BSH), told TTJ that the court decision had a big impact on sawmills, as they effectively had funded the campaign.
“Now nobody has to pay any money,” he said. “In the current economic situation the sawmills are happy with the situation but they see that they need a promotional fund in the longer term, not only for general promotion but for standardisation, scientific work and an information portal on the internet,” he said.
Under the German Timber Promotion Fund’s rules, sawmills had been required to pay a charge totalling 0.8% of the price of one cubic metre of timber. One larger mill’s contribution in 2007 was €300,000.
Moves are afoot between the BSH, German Association of the Sawmilling and Timber Industry, forestry groups and the paper industry to find a way to continue to promote German forestry products.
“We are trying to find a solution but it’s very difficult to make something like that happen on a voluntary basis,” added Mr Buddendick.
The seeds for the court decision were originally sown in February when farmers successfully challenged similar funding arrangements for promotion of German food products.
