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Maximum sentence provided is seven years if grand-scale damage is inflicted.
Ukraine may introduce criminal liability for the illegal extraction of amber in the form of imprisonment for a term of one to three years, as stated in the bill, submitted by President Zelensky, which was registered in the Verkhovna Rada and defined as urgent.
"Illegal amber mining is punishable by a fine of 700 to 3,000 tax-free minimum incomes of citizens or restriction of liberty for a term of one to three years, or imprisonment for the same term," says the draft law.
The sale, purchase, storage, transfer, transportation, and processing of illegally obtained amber provides for an even harsher punishment – a fine of 3,000 to 10,000 tax-free minimums or restriction of liberty or imprisonment for a term of three to six years.
Read alsoNational Police chief offers solution to illegal mining of amber in Ukraine
At the same time, the crimes committed repeatedly, either by prior conspiracy by the group, or if grand-scale damage is inflicted (more than 100 tax-free minimums), as well as crimes committed in Ukraine's sanctuaries, shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term of four to seven years.
As UNIAN reported earlier, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the Cabinet of Ministers to draft and introduce into parliament draft laws on the legalization of gambling and amber mining by October 1, 2019.
According to experts, annual budget losses from illegal gambling, amber production, and deforestation amount to $400 million.