The state automated information system of wood accounting forest LesEGAIS will be extended to all transactions with wood and forest products, and its use will be mandatory for all market participants

After completion,  LesEGAIS system should monitor the entire chain of forest management – from harvesting to delivery of forest to consumers. The government will introduce personal responsibility for controlling logging officials, and will also provide for administrative responsibility for unjustified sanitary logging.

The corresponding order was given by the Deputy Chairman of the government of the Russian Federation concerning agro-industrial complex, natural resources and ecology of the government of Russia Alexey Gordeev following the results of a meeting of the interdepartmental working group on a fight against illegal harvesting and wood trafficking.

“The issues of combating illegal logging are complex, interdepartmental, and coordinated work of all interested authorities is extremely important. Lesigues must earn in full measure throughout the country and become a tool to combat black loggers and shady business”, — emphasized Vice-the Prime Minister, urging the forest service to work more actively with the Ministry of interior and the Federal to eliminate possible options for a bypass of the accounting of timber, LesEGAIS.

The materials of the meeting indicate that the official data of the state statistics on the production and export of sawn timber differ. In 2014-2017, the volume of exports was almost 12 million cubic meters higher than the volume of sawn timber produced in Russia. According to experts, who were cited at the meeting, up to 20 million cubic meters of timber, including harvested by small and medium-sized businesses, are not taken into account when receiving statistical data annually. Gordeev instructed Rosstat to provide a reliable reflection of the volume of logging.

LesEGAIS was established in 2014 to control the origin of the timber trade. According to the decision of Alexey Gordeev, the system itself should be improved, as well as methods for determining the volume of illegal logging and timber turnover and the procedure for confiscation of equipment and equipment for illegal logging. Transport logging, the government will be obliged to connect to the GLONASS system.

Earlier, the Federation Council called for greater control of timber turnover and invited the government to take appropriate measures. According to the Federation Council, which refers to the assessment of international organizations, the volume of illegal logging in Russia is 20-25% of legal forest management. According to “Greenpeace Russia”, illegal logging threatens about 40 million hectares of forests in Russia, as the legal status of these forests is not fixed.

According to RBC