The Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill together with the main raw material supplier, The Titan Group of companies, is systematically working on the formation of proposals for draft laws and orders of subject ministries and departments. More than half of the proposals of the Arkhangelsk timber companies are reflected in the federal legislation.

“Now forest legislation is being actively formed: new rules of relationship between the authorities and the business in the field of forest engineering, wood harvesting and reforestation are being developed. The issues of provision with raw materials have obviously always been in the spotlight for the Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill, says Nikolay Krotov, Director for Relations with Government Bodies of the Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill JSC. – Over the past year we have considered more than 30 draft laws. In respect to 60% of the documents our proposals and comments have been taken into account”.

Thus, the APPM proposals are taken into account in the Order of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation on the types, operating procedures and sequence of wood cutting operations. The APPM proposed to eliminate the excess rate connected with the impossibility of performing wood cutting without a mensurational description of the wood cutting area. Clarifying points on timing and the procedure for notification within the framework of government bodies and forest users interaction were also reflected in the Order.

The APPM proposals were taken into account in the Order of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources on the report on reforestation. In particular, the reporting obligations of tenants for activities related to the assignment of lands intended for reforestation to lands forests are located on have been cancelled – this activity is actually carried out by state or local authorities. The second point concerns exclusion of the information on actual expenses of reforestation and afforestation from the reports. Inclusion of the expenses in the reports would lead to unreliable data since reforestation expenses do not always fully cover expenses of the site in the context of a specific list of works and do not take into account the information about deferred (accrued) expenses, credit interest rates and a number of other indicators.

The APPM and the Titan proposed to include into the text of the Order of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia which approves the rules for reforestation, a requirement for the authorities to publish information about the planting material available in the region 45 days before the start of works – this information is extremely important for forest users. Such a regulation will save enterprises from additional requests, and subject departments from preparing numerous replies.

On February, 14, 2022 Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation №166 “On the preparation and approval of the forest engineering plan” was adopted. It takes into account the APPM proposals on the structuring of works, selecting the objects for forest engineering and forming the criteria for introducing changes into the plan of works.

Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation №353 on measures of state support in the field of forest relations takes into account two APPM proposals: to reduce the time for consideration of forest exploitation projects to 10 working days and to prolongate the time for forest plantations cutting, wood storage and transportation by two years – until May,1, 2024.

“Our initiatives are aimed at simplifying procedures, eliminating excess rates which is extremely important nowadays for both the executive branch and business. All the proposals have been worked out and “lived through” in practice by the enterprises of timber industry complex and pulp and paper industry, says Nikolay Krotov. – In the context of a sharp change in the entire economic environment it is extremely important to make the process of coordinating positions while improving legislation as prompt as possible.

Dmitry Zyliov, Director General of the Arkhangelsk Pulp and Paper Mill, is a member of the Government Commission for Timber Complex Development chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Victoria Abramchenko and the Committee on Climate Policy and Carbon Regulation of RUIE.

Nikolay Krotov is a member of the Commission on Forestry and Timber Industry Complex of RUIE and the Expert Advisory Council on the Forestry Complex under the Committee of the Federation Council on Agrarian Food Policy and Natural Resource Management.