The Ukrainian Government suggested the Parliament to lift the timber exports ban and to calm the market by introducing timber auctions, according to Interfax Ukraine.
This is outlined in bill No. 4286 registered in parliament on March 22, 2016. An explanatory note attached to the bill says the 10-year moratorium to export timber passed last year is not in line with Ukraine's liabilities under the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement and the conditions for providing international macro-financial assistance to the country, says Interfax.
The bill no. 4286 from March 22 stated that the 10-year moratorium for timber exports expired last year and isn’t in accordance with the liabilities of Ukraine under the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement. Also, it added that the obscure timber market issue should be solved, especially through timber auctions.
The interagency handling the timber exports ban has already drafted the legislative measure. Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Natalia Mykolska stated that the document was made together with NGO Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO).
Through auctions, the timber would be sold to residents and the timber that wouldn’t be sold would be offered to nonresidents. Thus, residents won’t be able to export the timber they bought at the auctions and which will come from Ukrainian producers.
In November 2015, the logs export ban introduced by the Ukrainian Law Nr. 325-VIII (09.04.2015) entered into force. The law temporarily prohibits (10 years) the exportation outside the customs territory of Ukraine of untreated wood from all tree species (except pine) as of November 1, 2015. The same would apply to pine as well, but later - starting from January 1, 2017.
The legislative draft in question stipulated a temporary ban for the following: unprocessed wood including raw wood, such as roundwood in the form of logs, poles etc. with moisture content exceeding 22% and sawn timber with the thickness exceeding 70 mm and moisture content more than 22%.
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