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FOREST PROTECTION DECREE, 1974 (NRCD
243)
As amended
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section
1. Forest Offences.
2. Offences Relating to Marks.
3. Persistent Offenders to be
Banned.
4. Duties of Forest Officers.
5. Arrest and Seizure.
6. Forfeiture and Disposal of
Articles.
7. Burden of Proof.
8. Persons Bound to Assist Forest
Officers.
9. Indemnity for Acts Done in Good
Faith.
10. Interpretation.
11. Repeals.
IN pursuance of the National
Redemption Council (Establishment)
Proclamation, 1972, this Decree is
hereby made:
Section 1—Forest Offences.
(1) Any person who in a Forest
Reserve without the written
consent of the competent forest
authority,
(a) fells, uproots, lops, girdles,
taps, damages by fire or otherwise
damages any tree or timber;
(b) makes or cultivates any farm
or erects any building;
(c) causes any damage by
negligence in felling any tree or
cutting or removing any timber;
(d) sets fire to any grass or
herbage, or kindles a fire without
taking due precaution to prevent
its spread;
(e) makes or lights a fire
contrary to any order of the
Forestry Commission;
(f) in any way obstructs the
channel of any river, stream,
canal or creek;
(g) hunts, shoots, fishes, poisons
water or sets traps or snares;
(h) subjects any forest produce to
any manufacturing process or
collects, conveys or removes any
forest produce; or
(i)
pastures cattle or permits any
cattle to trespass, commits an
offence and is liable on summary
conviction to a fine not exceeding
500 penalty units or to
imprisonment not exceeding 2 years
or to both, except that for a
second or subsequent offence under
this section the offender shall be
liable on summary conviction to a
fine of not less than 250 penalty
units or to imprisonment not
exceeding 3 years or to both; [As
substituted by the Forest
Protection (Amendment) Act, 2002
(Act 624), s.1(a)].
(2) A person convicted of an
offence under subsection (1) (a)
or (1)(h) of this section shall,
in addition to any other
punishment imposed under this
section, be liable to pay to the
Commissioner responsible for Lands
twice the commercial value of each
tree or of the timber or forest
produce which is the
subject-matter of the offence.
(3) A person convicted of an
offence under this section shall,
in addition to any other
punishment imposed under this
section, be liable to pay to the
person whose rights have been
infringed such compensation as the
court may direct.
(4) Nothing contained in this
section shall prohibit the
exercise in a Forest Reserve by
any person of any right which
under the Forests Ordinance
(Cap.157) for the time being is,
or is treated as, an admitted
right.
Section 2—Offences Relating to
Marks.
Any person who
(a) knowingly counterfeits or
fraudulently uses upon timber or
standing tree a mark or indicates
that the timber or tree is the
property of any person; or
(b) without the written consent of
a Forest Officer alters, defaces
or obliterates a mark placed on
any timber or tree; or
(c) alters, moves, destroys or
defaces any boundary mark of any
Forest Reserve,
commits an offence and is on
summary conviction liable to a
fine not exceeding 500 penalty
units or to imprisonment not
exceeding 2 years or to both,
except that for a second or
subsequent offence under this
section the offender shall be
liable on summary conviction to a
fine of not less than 250 penalty
units or to imprisonment not
exceeding 3 years or to both. [As
substituted by the Forest
Protection (Amendment) Act, 2002
(Act 624), s.1(b)].
Section 3—Persistent Offenders to
be Banned.
(1) Any person who has been
convicted three times of an
offence under this Decree shall be
deemed to be prohibited from
owning, operating or participating
in any timber business or timber
concession, and all permits and
property marks held by him under
any enactment relating to forests,
trees, or timber shall be deemed
to be forfeited.
(2) Any person who contravenes a
prohibition imposed on him by
subsection (1) of this section
shall be guilty of an offence and
liable on conviction to
imprisonment not exceeding ten
years without the option of a
fine.
Section 4—Duties of Forest
Officers.
(1) Every Forest Officer shall
take all necessary steps to
prevent the commission of an
offence under this Decree.
(2) Where the Commissioner
responsible for Lands is satisfied
that any Forest Officer has aided,
condoned or connived at the
commission of any offence under
this Decree, he may order that
such Forest Officer be summarily
dismissed.
Section 5—Arrest and Seizure.
(1) Any Forest Officer 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 or address which is
believed to be false, or if there
is reason to believe that he may
abscond.
(2) A person arrested under this
section shall within forty-eight
hours be brought before a
Magistrate, if not sooner
released.
(3) Where there is reason to
believe that an offence has been
committed under this Decree, any
Forest Officer may seize all
forest produce to which the
offence relates together with all
instruments, vehicles and other
articles suspected to have been
used in committing the offence.
(4) A Forest Officer who seizes
anything under this section shall
place thereon a mark indicating
that it has been seized and shall
report the seizure to the
Commissioner responsible for
Lands.
Section 6—Forfeiture and Disposal
of Articles.
(1) A court which convicts any
person of an offence under this
Decree shall order that all forest
produce, instruments, vehicles and
other articles in respect of which
or by means of which the offence
was committed (including anything
seized under section 5) shall be
forfeited to the Republic.
(2) Any vehicle or other article
which is seized under section 5
and whose owner cannot be
ascertained shall, after the
expiration of fourteen days from
the date of seizure, be deemed to
be forfeited to the Republic.
(3) A vehicle or other article
which is seized under section 5
and whose owner has been
ascertained shall, if no
prosecution is brought under this
Decree, be restored to its owner.
(4) Anything which is forfeited to
the Republic under this section
may be sold or otherwise disposed
of by the Commissioner responsible
for Lands, and the proceeds
applied for forest rehabilitation:
Provided that where a vehicle is
forfeited, and the Commissioner is
satisfied that the owner was in no
way implicated in the offence, the
Commissioner may restore the
vehicle to such owner.
Section 7—Burden of Proof.
The burden of proof that any
forest produce has not been taken
in contravention of this Decree
shall lie upon the person in whose
possession it is found.
Section 8—Persons Bound to Assist
Forest Officers.
(1) Every person who exercises any
right in or is permitted to take
any forest produce from a Forest
Reserve, and every person who is
employed in a Forest Reserve,
shall be bound to give to any
Forest Officer without delay any
information he may have regarding
the commission or intended
commission of any offence under
this Decree, and shall assist any
such officer—
(a) to extinguish any fire in the
Reserve;
(b) to prevent any fire occurring
nearby from spreading to the
Reserve;
(c) to prevent the commission of
any offence under this Decree, and
to assist in discovering any
offender.
(2) Any person who contravenes
subsection (1) shall be guilty of
an offence and liable on
conviction to a fine not exceeding
¢50.00.
Section 9—Indemnity for Acts Done
in Good Faith.
No action shall lie against any
person in respect of any act done
by him in good faith in the
execution or intended execution of
his powers or duties under this
Decree.
Section 10—Interpretation.
In this Decree, unless the context
otherwise requires:
"cattle" includes cows, sheep,
goats, pigs, and horses;
"competent forest authority" means
a forest officer with the rank not
below Assistant District Manager
who is able to take decisions on
behalf of the Executive Director
of the Forest Services Division or
the Chief Executive of the
Forestry Commission.[As inserted
by the Forest Protection
(Amendment) Act, 2002 (Act 624),
s.1(c)]
"forest produce" includes the
following, if found in or brought
from a Forest Reserve:—
(a) timber, charcoal, rubber,
wood, oil, resin and natural
varnish;
(b) trees, plants, leaves, flowers
and fruit, and all other parts and
produce of trees and plants;
(c) wild animals and birds and
their skins, and all other parts
and produce of wild animals and
birds;
(d) eggs, snails, crabs, fish,
silk, honey and wax;
(e) peat, surface soil, and
minerals other than minerals
within the meaning of any
enactment regulating the working
of minerals;
"Forest Reserve" means a Forest
Reserve constituted under section
17 of the Forests Ordinance (Cap.
157);
"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;
"tree" includes palms, bamboos,
stumps, brushwood and canes.
Section 11—Repeals.
The following enactments are
hereby repealed:—
Sections 22 to 33 of the Forests
Ordinance (Cap.157) Forest
Offences (Compounding of Fines)
Act, 1959 (No.83) Forest Offences
(Compounding of Fines) (Amendment)
Act, 1962 (Act 99)
Section 16 (11) of the Concessions
Act, 1962 (Act 124).
The Forestry Protection
(Amendment) Law, 1996 (PNDCL 142).
[Repealed by the Forest Protection
(Amendment) Act, 2002 (Act 624),
s. 2]
Made this 12th day of February,
1974.
COLONEL I. K. ACHEAMPONG
Chairman of the National
Redemption Council
Date of Gazette Notification: 22nd
February, 1974.
amended
by
FOREST
PROTECTION (AMENDMENT) LAW, 1986.
(PNDCL 142)1.
FOREST
PROTECTION (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2002.
(ACT 624)2 |
