During the month, the State environmental inspectorate of Ukrainian leadership revealed only 274 cases of the Christmas trees sale violations rules

The State environmental inspectorate of Ukrainian leadership  summed up the  “New Year’s tree – 2021” action results, where the  inspectors had detected illegal Christmas markets. According to the head of the State environmental inspectorate Andriy Malovany, in Ukraine  at the beginning of December  have been revealed only 274 cases of  the Christmas trees sale violations rules.

As stated in the   State Ecological Inspectorate website ,  at the beginning of December within the  “Christmas tree – 2021” campaign, the department employees have found 274  cases of the Christmas trees sale violations rules. There were counted  429,456 hryvnas ($15000) of the losses.

During the  month,  the territorial bodies were  checking the  fur-trees and pines sale places. The main “checkpoints”  were the tags availability on the trees with an individual identification code, the  code registration in the system of the Forestry Information   Analytical Center and the seller’s consignment note  reliability information , – explained the head of State environmentalinspectorate Andriy Malovany.

In total, the State environmental  inspectorate brought 177 people to administrative responsibility for the  requirements violation , drawing up 235 reports on the administrative violations. 88 materials were submitted to the courts. Violators, detected by State environmental  inspectorate, were punished under Article 88-1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses – a fine of 510 ($18) to 1,700 hryvnas ($60). Andriy Malovany pointed out that besides the  penalties, unscrupulous sellers also reimbursed the damage caused to the environment due to the illegal trees trade.

To combat with the  illegal trees sale  on New Year’s holidays,  the “New Year’s tree” campaign is annually  conducted  by the State environmental  inspectorate. However, every year on the eve of the New Year holidays, thousands of sellers of illegally felled Christmas trees traditionally appear near the city outlets and along the city highways. Vandals cut  Christmas trees in the parks and gardens, which remains unpunished.

Translation: Mariia Pylypenko