Regulations on updated tariffs for forest damages published in Moldova's Official Journal

The regulation on the way and tariffs for calculating the amounts of compensation for breaches of forestry legislation were published in the Official Journal today.

According to the Ministry of Environment, the need to update the regulation arose, because the present tariffs have not been changed since 1996. This has significantly weakened the state's ability to prevent and deter forest destruction.

The new regulations cover 17 categories of violations impacting the forest fund - from illegal logging and fires to unauthorized use of forest land - and set compensations proportional to the severity of the act and the costs needed for the full restoration of the destroyed ecosystem.

Damages are now expressed in conventional units (1 CU = 50 lei), a system that provides clarity and flexibility in future tariff updates.

“Thus, while until now, the compensation has been only 477 lei for the cutting of five trees with a diameter of 26 cm in forests with a special protection regime, under the new regulations, for the same act, a damage of 4,775 lei will be calculated. Also, for each damaged tree, the previous tariff was about 21.6 lei, while the new regulations stipulate 215 lei - 10 times more,” the environmental authority said.

The regulations apply regardless of the form of ownership - state, local public authorities, or private ownership - and provide for increased tariffs for forests with special regimes, valuable species, protected areas or for damages caused during the vegetation period.