State Department asked to investigate Malaysia’s illegal timber trade

State Department asked to investigate Malaysia’s illegal timber trade    An environmental group has petitioned the U.S. State Department to investigate allegations of illegal trading in protected Indonesian timber through the Malaysian logging and furniture industries.
   The results of the investigation could result in U.S. trade sanctions against Malaysia’s timber shipments to the United States.
   “Millions of dollars of wood products made from the Indonesian ramin are illegally exported to the U.S. by Malaysian companies each year, using fraudulent ‘bills of lading’ stating that the wood is grown in Malaysia,” said the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), which filed the petition with the State Department March 18.
   “Unsuspecting American consumers are purchasing these products from major U.S. retailers, unaware they are contributing to the demise of the world’s orangutans,” the Washington-based group added.
   According to the EIA, the United States is the largest consumer market of Malaysian wooden furniture, with imports valued at $433 million in 2003. The United States and Japan are the largest importers of Malaysian plywood.
   Indonesia placed ramin on Appendix III of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in August 2001, effectively banning international trade of this Indonesian wood. About 155 countries, including the United States, Malaysia and Indonesia, are CITES signatories.
   EIA filed its petition under the 1971 Pelly Amendment, which allows the United States to impose trade sanctions on countries that violate endangered species conventions of which the United States is a signatory.
   The environmental group’s petition also cited the Bush administration’s July 2003 President’s Initiative Against Illegal Logging, which pledged to help developing countries combat illegal logging and timber sales.