On May 12, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal of the Ministry of Ecology and the Ministry of Digital Transformation for a two-year experiment on issuing a special permit for the use of forest resources (logging ticket) and a certificate of origin for timber and lumber made from them, starting from June 1, 2023.
Source. This was reported by Interfax-Ukraine.
"This innovation is another step in the implementation of a comprehensive reform of the forestry industry in Ukraine. The purpose of the reform is to introduce transparent and effective management mechanisms in this area," one of the project developers, the Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO), said in a statement on Monday.
It is specified that it will be possible to apply and receive the relevant permits online on the Ecosystem platform.
According to the BRDO, the transfer of these services into electronic format will reduce corruption risks, minimize the "human factor", save entrepreneurs time and money, and increase public control and transparency in logging.
The project will also allow for the introduction of a single electronic database of logging tickets and certificates of origin instead of the paper format.
BRDO experts are working on the forestry reform in Ukraine, which started in 2016, together with the Ministry of Ecology and the State Forestry Agency within the framework of the USAID/UKaid Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services/TAPAS project, the release reminds.
As part of the forestry reform, the sale of unprocessed wood at electronic auctions has already been introduced. Since 2021, an interactive map of wood processing facilities has been operating in a test mode in a number of regions. The industry has also implemented the Forest in a Smartphone project, which contains a list of logging tickets for timber harvesting and allows you to check the legality of logging on the agency's online map.
The next stage of the forestry reform will be the separation of management, licensing, and economic functions of the State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine," the BRDO notes.