Current legislative regulation of the forest sector can’t provide a complete forest inventory, while being powerless to deal with illegal logging and not offering effective mechanisms for forest protection and transparent timber sales. High corruption risks of regulatory instruments provoke the growth of the shadow market.
For example, in Ukraine, about 30% of timber is sold illegally, and the state suffers 2 billion hryvnias in losses annually. Only in 2018, the volume of illegal logging amounted to 17.7 thousand cubic meters.
The introduction of a unified state system of electronic timber management that currently does not cover almost a third of the market will help to improve the situation.
The President signed the relevant Decree “On Certain Measures for Forest Conservation and Rational Use of Forest Resources” developed by the BRDO Office based on the results of the systematic review of the timber market regulation. The document will become the basis for further amendments to the Forestry Code, in particular:
- will provide opportunities for the timber trade on a competitive basis, including through open auctions.
- will regulate the implementation of the Unified State System of Electronic Timber Management providing 100% control and timber trade monitoring from the moment of timber harvesting to its actual sale.