German Timber Promotion Fund forced to stop activities

On June 5, 2009, the German Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) announced its decision that the statutory funding system of the German Timber Promotion Fund (Holzabsatzfonds) is unconstitutional. In consequence, as of June 5, 2009, all activities of the German Timber Promotion Fund, including the international marketing program GERMANTIMBER, were stopped and the organization is in the process of beeing liquidated.

The German forest and wood-based industry is currently evaluating options for creating a follow-up marketing organization based on a voluntary funding system.

The German Timber Promotion Fund would like to thank all international partners for the fruitful cooperation over the last years and the joined efforts for promoting the advantages of using modern wood products from sustainable forestry worldwide.

GERMAN TIMBER PROMOTION FUND, Bonn