All timber that will not be included in the electronic timber accounting system will be considered illegal due to the adoption of instructions on the electronic timber accounting system, the press service of the State Forest Resources Agency said.
According to its press release, the relevant instructions for the timber accounting system were approved by the order of the Ministry of Natural Resources and registered by the Ministry of Justice. Electronic timber accounting is a program for monitoring harvested and sold timber.
“The delay in the adoption of the electronic timber accounting instruction lasted more than a year and a half, since the adoption of the document was extremely unprofitable for the participants in the shadow market. Now we will bring out of the shadow those processes that take place in a third of the area of Ukrainian forests,” Viktor Smal, the deputy chairman of the State Forest Resources Agency for digital development, is quoted as saying.
The agency explained the work of the electronic timber accounting system: a special tag is stuffed onto the harvested wood, in which information about the characteristics of the wood and the place of harvesting is encrypted. When timber is moved further to the warehouse, a consignment note is attached, which contains information about the transportation. All information goes to the electronic timber accounting system.
“Thus, it is possible to compare how much wood was harvested and how much sold. Wood that did not enter the system is considered illegal,” the press release said.
According to Smal, until recently, the e-wood accounting system was used exclusively by state-owned enterprises under the management of the state forestry agency, in whose jurisdiction 73% of the area of Ukrainian forests is, and there was no information on the rest of the forests in the system. While the adoption of the electronic timber accounting instruction in practice means that its use is mandatory for 100% of forest users and forest owners, all volumes of harvested and sold timber must be reflected in the system, the agency clarified. The action of the electronic consignment note applies to all forest users.
