Greenpeace has lost its judicial review of the government’s decision not to seize shipments of Brazilian mahogany from entering the UK.
Three Court of Appeal judges said the law was ambiguous on the issue and they had a choice between rival arguments – the interests of the environment versus commerce.
Two judges decided commercial certainty was more important than whether permits for the export of the mahogany were correctly issued or not.
Brazil put in place a complete logging and export ban on mahogany last year following investigations reported to reveal that 70% was being logged illegally.
