First decision – Logging, prohibited in the forests of Ilfov. Riding a bicycle without informing the owner

The Senate adopted the draft law on the new Forestry Code, which stipulates that forest roads will be video-supervised, introduces criminal sanctions and measures regarding the confiscation of wood materials, the means of transport or the suspension of access to the integrated IT system for forests. The project has been amended so that logging is prohibited and only afforestation is allowed in Ilfov, instead cycling through the forests is allowed without informing the owners, but at your own risk.

Thus, according to the adopted amendments: “For the forests within the territorial radius of the Ilfov administrative-territorial unit, only works for the purpose of ecological reconstruction, afforestation works, reforestation and completion of natural regeneration, crop and seed care works until the realization the state of the massif and works of care and management of the stands in the category of clearing, depressing, cleaning and thinning. In strictly justified cases, it is possible to cut down trees that create a state of danger for the safety of forest users”.

At the same time, according to another amendment, the access of people, on foot or by bicycle, to the lands of the National Forestry Fund is free and is carried out on their own responsibility, without the need to notify the owner or administrator, as the Government had foreseen.

Also, the management of the forest bypasses will be hired through competition and without an indefinite period, contrary to what the Executive had foreseen.

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The main measures of the new Forestry Code:

The new Forestry Code, developed in accordance with the provisions of the National Strategy for Forests 2030, also establishes the legal framework for the digitized fight against illegal forest cutting. Forest roads will be video-surveillance with technical monitoring/recording systems to help detect theft and illegal logging.

It also regulates the system of criminal sanctions and the regime of insurance measures and the confiscation of wood materials, the means of transport, the suspension of access to the integrated IT system for forests, the withdrawal and, as the case may be, the recall immediately after the market of the products obtained from raw wood, results as a result of committing acts that are classified as crimes.

New forestry offenses are introduced: falsification of forestry IT data and falsification in IT declarations will be punishable by 1 to 5 years in prison.

Another provision establishes the establishment of the National Forest Register for the record of forest holdings, in which all forest owners in Romania will be included, for the facilitation of notices and reports between different public entities and the monitoring of the implementation of forestry services through computer methods.

At the same time, the National Council for Forestry is established, which will have the role of monitoring the exercise in conditions of professional ethics and the observance of professional standards by forestry personnel.

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Obligations and rights of forest land owners are clearly established, the difference between forest properties up to 10 ha and forest properties over 10 ha.

One of the most important provisions of the new Forestry Code refers to the prohibition of clear cutting. Thus, the area where these clear cuttings are prohibited is being extended to the natural parks and all protected natural areas in Romania.

The draft law introduces the concept of “aging islands”, a mechanism by which forest areas of at least 0.1 ha, with a role in maintaining biodiversity, will be protected from cutting. Also, the minimum area covered with trees, required for the forest use category, is doubled, from 0.25 ha to 0.5 ha.

According to the new Forestry Code, the state will be able to undertake the afforestation of lands that have been compensated and abandoned by the owner. In addition, the Code introduces the term “agroforestry use”, which means that agricultural land will be able to be more easily afforested.

At the same time, the granting of financial compensation from the state budget for the restrictions imposed and the disadvantages created by preserving the biodiversity of forest habitats is regulated.