In Ukraine, a pilot project has been launched in several branches of the state-owned enterprise Forests of Ukraine, which will eliminate the possibility of manipulating bills of lading (BOL) for illegal timber.
Now the BOL control system will be strengthened by adding photos of loaded logs, because the pattern of folded wood is unique, it is almost impossible to duplicate it, Yury Bolohovets, head of the State Forest Resources Agency, reports on Facebook.
It is noted that the project is a joint initiative of the "Forests of Ukraine" and the state enterprise LIAC.
Bolohovets explained that BOL is one of the components of the Unified State System of Electronic Wood Accounting. The document gives the buyer the right to transport a batch of wood. It contains the date, volume of wood, driver and vehicle data, tag numbers.
He said that information about BOL is open. That is, anyone can check the document on the LIAC website by its number or car number. However, some foresters could work on tags and take out several batches of wood under one BOL.
“We are solving the problem and adding to the BOL also a photo of the logs loaded onto the car. "Profile" and "full face". The pattern of folded wood is unique, it is almost impossible to duplicate it,” said Bolohovets, adding that this will significantly complicate the manipulation of BOL.
He said that after checking the functioning of the system, it will be extended to all branches of "Forests of Ukraine" and other forest users.
Bolohovets stressed that at the second stage of the project, it is planned to equip all timber trucks with GPS trackers. This will allow monitoring and tracking the removal of wood from the forest online and identify violations without law enforcement officers.
“Detinization is one of the important results of the forest industry reform. The centralization of management has finally opened up the opportunity to introduce what has been successfully working for our colleagues from the Baltic countries, Scandinavia, and Poland for a long time,” he stressed.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that in May 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a resolution on the launch of an electronic logging ticket and a certificate of wood origin.
As EcoPolitic reported earlier, in Transcarpathia, environmental inspectors involved border guards in identifying environmental violations.
