ATVIA. A decision was made that in the future, in order to receive a permit from the State Forestry Service to carry out economic activities in the forest, it will be necessary to pay significantly more. However, this decision has caused both negative and positive reactions, so “Apollo.lv” clarified the opinions of several interested parties on this issue.
You will have to pay a lot more for the permits
On November 29, 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers made amendments to the Cabinet of Ministers Regulations No. 82 “Regulations on the state fee for forestry and hunting activities”, which means that in the future, in order to receive a permit from the State Forest Service to carry out economic activities in the forest, you will have to pay significantly more.
Forest owners hope that it will no longer be necessary to increase fees and taxes
The Association of Latvian Forest Owners has previously indicated that it generally supports and understands the need to increase the State Forest Service’s salaries and the development of IT systems, as forest owners are also interested in competent and motivated employees working in the State Forest Service, but the proposed fee increase is disproportionately high, especially at a time when a large part of society has to think about balancing expenses.
After several objections, it has been possible to achieve that a maximum of three fellings of the same felling type can be included in one certificate, although the original offer was only one felling.
It has also been achieved that sanitary felling, maintenance felling in young trees and reconstructive felling are distributed, where the payment is set at five euros, instead of 30 euros as originally proposed.
The levy would not be applicable at all for these types of activities, as they are activities to improve the growth of forest stands,
therefore, it would attract more CO2, as well as reduce the risk of pests multiplying, for example, by cutting down wind-blown and broken firs in the winter, thus reducing the risks of the spruce eight-toothed bark beetle multiplying.
Forest owners hope that at a time when both daily and forestry costs have increased rapidly, this will be the only case of raising fees and taxes and the next government will not allow further cost increases.
The forester believes that the requirements must also change
Forester Pēteris Vīrs evaluates this decision relatively negatively: “If there is not enough money, then you need to think about where to get more money. The situation is that they work in the forests for pennies. 600 euro salary.
These are the people who check whether the state forests are properly managed, whether the legislation is not being violated, whether the forest is being managed.
If you ask for several times more payment for the service that the State Forest Service offers me, it is not normal.”
The husband indicates that he is ready to pay as much as necessary, but he must receive a suitable service in return. Pēteris believes that the requirements that the service offers must also change.
“The fact that the price must be raised is clear. I agree. But the competence and capabilities of the employees must also be raised,” he adds.
“The price increase is disproportionate”
“SCA mežs Latvia” representative Edgars Birks comments on this decision as follows: “The price increase is disproportionate. It is a large additional cost. Perhaps it was necessary, but the fact that it is very disproportionate. Considering that inflation is everywhere. This for many people, including our company, will have additional expenses.”
The company evaluates the decision negatively. “What we want is to improve the quality of service. If you just raise the prices and do nothing about it, then that is quite wrong.
If logging certificates could be issued not within a month, as in most cases, but sooner, for example, within a week or two, then its changes could be evaluated positively,” he says.
Birks points out: in order to evaluate the decision positively, changes should be achieved in this matter. “Of course, the whole system is being improved, but compared to colleagues in Estonia, they announce in the electronic system that they will cut, and if no one has objected within two weeks, then they are automatically allowed to go into the forest and cut.
But we have to wait almost a month before we can start cutting. If the document is still delayed somewhere or requires additional comments. Prices can change a lot from month to month,” he points out.
Vision of the State Forest Service
The State Forestry Service states that the amount of fees for hunting activities has not changed since 2004, but for forestry activities – since 2007. Given the long period since the cost review, incl. inflation, changes in the average salary, as well as changes in the cost of services provided by the State Forestry Service, the amount of state fees was revised.
“As labor wages, fuel costs, IT system maintenance costs increase, the State Forest Service will increase the cost of providing services for which a state fee is payable,” state the representatives of the State Forest Service.
For those forestry activities that are desirable and necessary in the process of forest management, the amount of the state fee has not been significantly increased, only rounded up to whole euros, for the issuance of a certificate for sanitary continuous and reconstructive felling, for the sanitary opinion of the state forest service and the opinion for recognizing a forest stand as unproductive. The decision made was inevitable, only
it’s a shame that the fees hadn’t been changed for such a long time and thus the increase in fees was large.
The large increase of state fees in relation to the previously established state fee is also one of the negative aspects of the adopted decision. If it had been done earlier, in several ways, during this period of 15-18 years, when the fees have not been changed, the consequences would not be so great.
According to the State Forest Service, the increase in fees also has positive aspects. By increasing the amount of state fees, the funds will be directed to the development of the state information system maintained by the State Forest Service – Forest State Register (hereinafter – MVR) and to the improvement of existing e-services and the introduction of new ones.
With the Cabinet of Ministers’ Regulation No. 872 of December 21, 2021 “Regarding the recognition of the Cabinet of Ministers’ Regulation No. 393 of June 21, 2016 “Price List of State Forest Service Fee Services” as having lost their validity”, the State Forest Service Fee services have been cancelled, including fee for access to MVR.
“Currently, forest owners or legal owners and hunters are provided with free access to the MVR with the authentication tools of the latvija.lv portal, thus significantly facilitating access to the MVR.
Currently, the State Forestry Service is carrying out the necessary actions, including changes in regulatory acts, in order to improve the speed and quality of issuing permits, opinions and certificates.
Amendments to the Law on the State Forest Service have been developed in order to organize the regulatory environment for the development of e-services of the State Forest Service, thus reducing the administrative burden, developing e-services, improving communication with the customer, the security of information exchange in a secure communication channel, as well as customer service, and promoting all transition of the state administration to digital document circulation,” states the State Forestry Service.
Hunters, using MVR, will have the opportunity to submit hunting contracts for registration and view the result, as well as view the geographical information of the hunting area. The ability to upload it and use it in mobile apps will greatly improve the hunting process, as it will be possible to know the boundaries of the hunting area in the area.
The summaries of the concluded hunting contracts prepared and offered by the MVR will provide transparent information about the terms of validity of the contracts.
Individuals can already buy a hunter’s season card online and a permit for a foreign hunter to hunt in the territory of Latvia by paying the state fee online.
Communication between the hunter and the institution in the electronic environment improves and accelerates mutual communication.
For hunting candidates, registering for the exam online at the MVR gives you the opportunity to choose the most convenient place and time for taking the exam, as well as pay the state fee online and submit the necessary information, including a photo, for the preparation of the license. The theoretical exam is organized face-to-face in electronic form, which speeds up the announcement of the exam result.
Communication with the hunter in an electronic environment improves the cooperation of the Ministry of Defense with representatives of hunting rights users on current issues in the field of hunting, as well as reduces the circulation of paper documents, thereby reducing the administrative burden.
