TREES AND TIMBER ACT - 1974 (NRCD 273)
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(1) The Chief Conservator of Forests shall divide Ghana into such areas as he thinks fit, and shall allot to each area a distinctive mark to be known as a locality mark.
(2) The Chief Conservator of Forests shall keep at his office a record of each area and the locality marks allotted, which shall be open to public inspection without charge during office hours.
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(1) An application to register a property mark shall be made in writing to the Chief Conservator of Forests stating the name and address of the applicant, the proposed property mark, the area within which the applicant proposes to cut trees for export or for conversion in a mill and the locality mark.
(2) If the Chief Conservator of Forests approves a proposed property mark, he shall, on payment by the applicant of a registration fee of ["c400,000.00";] register it in a Register of Property Marks to be kept for the purpose. [As Amended by the Trees and Timber (Amendment) Act, 1994 (Act 493) s. 1 (a)].
"(3) A registered property mark shall expire after a period of six months from the date of issue and is renewable after every six months.
(4) Application for renewal shall be made within one month after the expiration of the registration or renewal as the case may be and there shall be payable for a renewal of registration a fee of c200,000.00.
(4a) Where a registered property mark is not renewed within the period specified under sub-section (4) any application thereafter for the registration shall be considered to be an application for new registration. [As Inserted by the Trees and Timber (Amendment) Act, 19944 (Act 493) s. 1 (b)]
(5) On registering a property mark the Chief Conservator of Forests shall give the applicant a certificate of registration; and on renewal of registration he shall issue to the applicant a new certificate endorsed with the renewal.
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(1) The Chief Conservator of Forests may in his discretion refuse to register a property mark, or cancel the registration of a property mark.
(2) Any person aggrieved by a refusal to register or cancellation of the registration of a property mark may appeal in writing to the Commissioner within thirty days after such refusal or cancellation, and the Commissioner may, if he thinks fit, direct the property mark to be registered or restored to the register, as the case may be.
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(1) Every person who cuts or fells a growing tree for export in log form or for conversion in a mill shall as soon as possible mark clearly with white waterproof paint or a deep-cutting scribe:
(a) the stump thereof with his registered property mark and with a number (to be known as the stump number);
(b) each of the logs therefrom at both ends with the locality mark of the area in which the tree is situated, his registered property mark, the number of the tree, and a log number (hereinafter referred to as "the log number").
(2) Stump numbers shall run consecutively from number 1, number 1 being applicable to the first tree felled for export or for conversion in a mill by any person after he has registered his property mark.
(3) Log numbers shall run consecutively from number 1 upwards, the butt log being numbered 1.
(4) Letters and figures comprising marks made in pursuance of this section shall in all cases be not less than 2 1/2 inches in height and, except in the case of scribed marks, not less than 1/2 inch in width.
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Any person who fells or cuts a growing tree for export in log form or for conversion in a mill shall, on demand, produce the certificate of registration of his property mark to any police officer or Forest Officer.
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No person shall buy, sell, export, or be in possession of any log which is not duly marked in accordance with the provisions of this Part.
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No person shall, without the permission of the Chief Conservator of Forests, loan, borrow or otherwise transfer or obtain any registered property mark to the use of which he is not entitled.
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(1) Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any of the foregoing provisions of this Decree shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding "c5,000,000.00" or to imprisonment not exceeding five years or to both. [As Amended by the Trees and Timber (Amendment) Act, 1994 (Act 493) s. 2].
(2) When a stump or log has been marked with a registered property mark, the onus of proof that it has been marked in accordance with this Part shall be on the registered holder of the property mark.
(3) Where any person is convicted of an offence under subsection (1) of this section the court may in addition to the punishment imposed order that the whole or any part of the trees or timber in respect of which the offence was committed shall be forfeited and disposed of as the court may direct, and may order that any licence or permit held under this Decree or the regulations by the person convicted shall be forfeited.
(4) Where any person is convicted of an offence under subsection (1) of this section the Chief Conservator of Forests may cancel the registration of any property mark allotted to him.
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(1) To prevent the waste of trees or timber in any area outside a Forest Reserve, the Commissioner may by executive instrument declare any area (other than a Forest Reserve) which consists wholly or mainly of standing trees or timber to be a protected area with effect from a date four weeks after the publication of the instrument or such later date as may be specified in the instrument.
(2) The Commissioner shall keep each protected area under review and if it appears to him that the control exercisable under this Part can conveniently be withdrawn from any part of a protected area the Commissioner shall revoke the instrument as respects that part of the protected area and that part shall accordingly cease to be a protected area.
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On the making of an instrument under section 12 any person engaged in farming in the protected area shall give written notice of that fact to the Commissioner, who if satisfied that the notice is correct shall grant a licence authorising him to continue farming within the area specified in the notice subject to any conditions imposed by the Commissioner in the interest of the protected area.
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Any person who is not exercising rights under a concession and who in any protected area without the consent of the Commissioner-
(a) fells, uproots, lops, girdles, taps, injures by fire or otherwise damages any tree or timber; or
(b) makes or cultivates any farm or erects any building; or
(c) sets fire to any grass or herbage, or kindles a fire without taking due precautions to prevent its spread,
shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding c5,000,000.00 or to imprisonment not exceeding five years or to both. [As Amended by the Trees and Timber (Amendment) Act, 1994 (Act 493) s. 3].
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The Commissioner may by legislative instrument make regulations:-
(a) imposing duties on persons who hold concessions in a protected area;
(b) for permitting farming in protected areas;
(c) for the appointment of forest guards; and
(d) for the payment of fees by holders of concessions, and for applying any part of such fees towards the expense of guarding protected areas.
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Any person who fails to pay the levy commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding c,2,000,000.00 or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding one year or both". [As Inserted by the Trees and Timber (Amendment) Act, 1994 (Act 493) s. 4].
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(1) Any police officer or Forest Officer or a person authorised by the Minister may arrest without warrant any person whom he reasonably suspects to have committed or to have been concerned in any offence under this Decree, if such person fails to give his name and address or gives a name and address which is believed to be false, of if there is reason to believe that he may abscond. [As Amended by the Trees and Timber (Amendment) Act, 1994 (Act 493) s. 5].
(2) A person arrested under this section shall within forty-eight hours be brought before a Magistrate, if not sooner released.
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(1) The Commissioner may by legislative instrument make regulations-
(a) controlling or prohibiting the cutting or felling of any trees of smaller girth than that prescribed in the regulations;
(b) for the marking of trees that may be cut or felled;
(c) for the control of the transit or export of timber, and for the salving and disposal of drift timber;
(d) for the prescription for any purposes of a standard method for use in calculating the volume of any tree or timber;
(e) for the control or prohibition of the purchase, sale, export or possession of timber cut, felled, collected or moved in contravention of the regulations;
(f) for the protection of trees or timber;
(g) for the imposition of fees for anything done for the purposes of this Decree and the regulations;
(h) otherwise for carrying out the principles and purposes of this Decree.
(2) Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any regulation made under this section or the conditions of any licence or permit issued or granted thereunder for which no penalty is expressly provided in the regulations shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding c2,000,000.00 or to imprisonment not exceeding two years or to both. [As Amended by the Trees and Timber (Amendment) Act, 1994 (Act 493) s. 6].
(3) Where any person is convicted of an offence against any regulation made under this section, the court may in addition to the punishment imposed order that the whole or any part of the trees or timber in respect of which the offence was committed shall be forfeited and disposed of as the court may direct, and may order that any licence or permit held under the regulations by the person convicted shall be forfeited.
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In this Decree, unless the context otherwise requires:
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner responsible for Lands;
"Forest Reserve" means a Forest Reserve constituted under section 17 of the Forests Ordinance (Cap 157);
"mill" means a factory or conversion plant used to process logs or parts of trees into products of wood;
"property mark" means a mark placed on trees or timber to denote that after all purchase money due thereon has been paid the registered holder of the property mark has or will have a right in such trees or timber;
"protected area" means an area declared for the time being under this Decree to be a protected area;
"timber" includes trees when they have fallen or have been felled, and all wood, whether it has been cut up or fashioned or hollowed out for any purpose or not.
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(1) The following enactments are hereby repealed:-
Trees and Timber Ordinance (Cap. 158);
Trees and Timber (Amendment) Act, 1957 (No.40);
Protected Timber Lands Act, 1959 (No.34).
(2) Notwithstanding the above repeals, the following instruments as subsequently amended shall continue in force as if made under the corresponding provisions of this Decree, until modified or revoked:-
Trees and Timber (Control of Cutting) Regulations, 1958 (LN 368).
Trees and Timber (Measurement) Regulations, 1958 (LN 388).
Timber Lands (Protected Areas) Regulations, 1959 (LN 311).
Trees and Timber (Control of Measurement) Regulations, 1960 (LI 23).
Trees and Timber (Control of Export of Logs) Regulations, 1961 (LI 130).
(3) Notwithstanding the repeal of the Protected Timber Lands Act, 1959 (No.34), all instruments made under that Act to declare a protected area and in force immediately before the commencement of this Decree shall continue in force as if made under section 12 of this Decree, until modified or revoked.
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