Título VIII. Del regimen impositivo, control y estadistica

Every person who is granted a license for forest harvesting shall pay an amount equivalent to ten percent of the value of standing timber, which must be paid at the time the license is authorized.

Fifty percent of the amount collected shall be transferred to the municipalities where the harvested forests are located; this amount shall be specifically allocated for forest control and surveillance; and the remaining fifty percent shall be allocated to the Private Forest Fund.

Forest products originating from the following are exempted from this payment:

a)Plantations registered with INAB that were not established pursuant to reforestation obligations, and agroforestry systems; and,

b)Forests that have been managed in accordance with the Management Plan approved by INAB and that have complied with all the commitments established in the license.

INAB shall annually publish the value of standing timber in the official gazette, and it shall enter into force as of September 1 of each year.

For the purpose of taking a census of lands covered with forests and of forest vocation, as well as exercising statistical control over technical and economic activities on the subject matter, the National Forest Register is hereby created, under the charge of INAB, in which there shall be recorded on its own initiative or at the request of a party, as the case may be:

a)All forests and lands of forest vocation, whatever their ownership regime may be, with a detailed description of the existing forests and the Property Register data for the lands and the fiscal registration.

b)Urban and rural sawmills, manual or mechanical, resin distillers, impregnating plants, cellulose and paper processors, carpentry shops, factories of semi-processed or fully processed products and other similar industries that use forest products as raw material;

c)Persons engaged in forest repopulation;

d)Persons carrying out export or import activities involving forest products, whatever their state may be;

e)Persons engaged in the production of resins, latex and other products of the forest;

f)Forest nurseries throughout the country;

g)Producers and exporters of forest seeds;

h)Professionals and technicians acting as Forest Regents referred to in Article 50 of this law; and,

i)Institutions, organizations and associations related to research, extension and training in the forestry and/or agroforestry field.

The corresponding Register certificate shall be issued at no cost to the individual or juridical persons covered by this article, who in any event are obligated to provide the information that is required.