Tanzania
Export of Timber Act
Chapter 274
- Published in Tanzania Government Gazette
- Commenced on 1 January 1952
- [This is the version of this document at 31 July 2002.]
- [Note: This legislation has been thoroughly revised and consolidated under the supervision of the Attorney General's Office, in compliance with the Laws Revision Act No. 7 of 1994, the Revised Laws and Annual Revision Act (Chapter 356 (R.L.)), and the Interpretation of Laws and General Clauses Act No. 30 of 1972. This version is up-to-date as at 31st July 2002.]
Part I – Preliminary provisions (ss 1-4)
1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Export of Timber Act.2. Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—"East Africa" means Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda;"export" with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions means export from any part of East Africa to any destination outside East Africa;"export certificate" means an export certificate issued in accordance with section 5 of this Act;"graded timber" means timber graded and marked or passed unmarked in accordance with the provisions of the Act and any rules made under this Act;"grader" means a grader authorised by the Conservator of Forests in accordance with section 10 of this Act;"Minister" means Minister responsible for Tourism and Natural Resources;"timber" signifies timber to which this Act applies, and subject to any such exception as provided in section 3, means any wood of trees grown in East Africa whether unsawn, hewn, sawn or machined, and shall include lumber, shooks, slats, blocks, logs, box boards, flooring strips, shingles and sleepers, but not any other article manufactured from such wood.3. Application
This Act shall apply to all timber except in so far as the Minister may by notice in the Gazette specifically exempt any kind or description of timber from the application of all or any of its provisions, not being those contained in section 9 or section 12.4. Power to control movement of timber
Nothing in this Act shall derogate from any power of the Minister to exercise any control over timber which is conferred by any law for the time being in force, and without prejudice to the exercise of any such power the Minister may at any time by order published in the Gazette prohibit or restrict the movement of timber or any quantity, kind or description of timber from Tanzania.Part II – Export (ss 5-9)
5. Prohibition of export of timber without export certificate
6. Restriction on export
No persons shall export timber except through such places or ports of exit as the Conservator of Forests may, by notice in the Gazette, declare to be places or ports of exit for the purposes of this section.7. Maintenance of timber
No person shall export any timber in respect of which an export certificate has been issued except in the state in which it was when the export certificate was issued.8. Power to cancel certificate in case of bad handling or storage in transit
Where any graded timber is in the opinion of the Conservator of Forests or a person authorised by him in that behalf so handled or stored whilst in transit that such timber is not in the state in which it was when he export certificate was issued, the export certificate in respect of such timber may be cancelled by the authority which issued such export certificate:Provided that if the holder of such certificate can prove to the satisfaction of such authority that the results of such handling and storage were due to circumstances beyond his control he shall be relieved from any liability to which he might otherwise be exposed under the provisions of this section.9. Prohibition of issue of false export certificate
No person shall sign, issue or use in respect of any timber, whether such timber is timber as defined in section 2 or not, any document being or purporting to be an export certificate under this Act knowing or having reason to believe that the same is false either wholly or in any material particular.Part III – Grading and marking (ss 10-12)
10. Authorisation of graders
11. Inspection of timber
12. Prohibition of marking by unauthorised person
Part IV – Miscellaneous provisions (ss 13-17)
13. Conservator of Forests may require particulars of export of timber
The Conservator of Forests may by notice in writing require any person exporting timber to furnish him with such particulars in respect of such export as may be specified in such notice, and any person who—14. Offences and penalties
15. Appeal to Conservator of Forests
Any person aggrieved by any decision of a grader may appeal within thirty days of the date of such decision to the Conservator of Forests.16. Appeal to Minister
Any person aggrieved by any decision of the Conservator of Forests made under this Act may appeal within thirty days of the date of such decision to the Minister, whose decision shall be final and shall not be called in Export of Timber question in any court.17. Rules
The Minister may make rules for carrying the provisions of this Act into effect, and, in particular, but with respect to the following matters–History of this document
31 July 2002 this version
Consolidation
01 January 1952
Commenced