The Government increased export duties on unprocessed soft timber of Far Eastern species

By Decree No. 1169 of September 7, 2019, the Government of the Russian Federation doubled (from 6.5% to 13%) the rates of export customs duties on unprocessed softwood of Far Eastern species (Yezo spruce, Khingan fir, and Dahurian larch) exported within tariff quotas under licenses issued by the competent authorities. The Decree will enter into force on October 12, 2019.

Moreover, by Decree No. 1124 of August 31, 2019, the Government of Russia added a new requirement to the rules of the allocation of tariff quotas for exports of unprocessed softwood, originally established by Governmental Decree No. 779 of July 30, 2012. The amendment implies that from now on, entities applying for a tariff quota to export unprocessed softwood with the minimum export duty will have to indicate in the application for the issuance of a corresponding license the numbers and dates of submitting declarations of wood transactions in the Unified State Automated Information System (USAIS) for timber accounting. This will help to track the origin of the exported forest products. Based on these data, it will be possible to track the wood supply chain from the place of harvesting to the buyer.