New amendments establishing liability for breaches of the law on timber circulation were included in the Code of Administrative Offenses

The President of the Russian Federation signed Federal Law FZ No. 165 dated July 8, 2024 “On introducing amendments in the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation” stipulating additional measures in case of violations of timber circulation. New articles regulating forest users’ liability for violations of the law were also included in the Code of Administrative Offenses. These amendments will stipulate additional measures—penalties for failure to comply with the requirements for timber transportation, storage, and calculation.

If timber is transported without an electronic accompanying document, only a fine is charged; a repeated violation entails a heftier fine (from 40,000 to 50,000 rubles for officials and from 400,000 to 500,000 rubles for legal entities) and seizure of violators’ machinery and timber. A similar mechanism will also apply in case the vehicle is not equipped with the GLONASS system that makes it possible to track timber transportation. The first violation entails a fine, and a repeated offense, a fine and a confiscation.

Additionally, the amendments in the Code of Administrative Offenses entail administrative liability in case harvesting machinery without permitting documents is discovered in the forest. A purchase and sale agreement of a forest stand is an example of such a document. In this case, the size of the fine is from 800 to 2,000 rubles for physical persons and from 300,000 to 500,000 rubles for legal entities.

The amendments in the Code of Administrative Offenses stipulate fines of 50,000 rubles for officials and up to 500,000 rubles for legal entities selling timber outside the exchange. This measure is supposed to help discipline state enterprises and prevent violations of the law.

Starting from 2022, state-owned harvesting enterprises must sell timber via exchange trading. In Russia, such an opportunity is presented by the Saint-Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange (SPIMEX).