B.C. company to pay $50,000 for illegally importing orchid-containing herbal oil

VANCOUVER – A British Columbia company has been ordered to pay $50,000 in penalties for illegally importing a herbal oil containing a protected orchid species.

Environment and Climate Change Canada says Topwin Trading Co. Ltd. pleaded guilty to violating a trade act earlier this month, three years after the Canada Border Services Agency intercepted a shipment containing over 10,000 vials of the oil.

The department says a shipping invoice indicated it included plant material derived from a species of orchid native to East Asia and known as the hyacinth orchid or Chinese ground orchid.

It says in a release enforcement officers from Environment and Climate Change inspected and detained 51 boxes of the vials.

The department says Topwin Trading also pleaded guilty in 2010 to illegally importing a carton of another plant species that is commonly used in dried form as a medicinal herb.

It says exploitation of the world’s wild flora and fauna is not tolerated in Canada.