After approval in the year 2003 of the law 43/2003, Montes, which updated the regulatory regime of forest areas in accordance with the provisions of the Spanish Constitution and the guidelines for Sustainable Forest Management, it was amended by the Law 10/2006, partially and concretely.

After more than a decade of application of the Forestry Law, Aspects have been identified that could be improved, others adapted to reality and some more, of obligatory development.

Among the novelties of the Law 21/2015 The recognition of forests as green infrastructures is included, in order to value the forest territory as a provider of environmental services and focus of rural development, Maintaining as an objective the balance between economic benefits, ecological and social. In line with this argument, The concept of multifunctionality of the Spanish mountains is recognized, that allow them to simultaneously fulfill several functions (Economic, Ecological, Social), without prejudice in any of them for developing the others.

This Law includes, on the other hand, the competence of the General Administration of the State derived from the Regulation (CE) No. 2173/2015, establishing a FLEGT licensing system for imports of timber into the European Community. On the other hand, it has been established that the Public Administrations will be responsible for controlling the legality of the origin of forest products, putting all available means to prevent the introduction into the European market of timber and forest products whose origin is not legal, according to the Rules of Procedure (CE) 2173/2005 and Rules of Procedure (EU) No. 995/2010, laying down the obligations of operators placing timber and timber products on the market.

In relation to the controversial change of forest use in burned lands, the Law includes the maintenance of the express prohibition of change of use during 30 years, with the sole exception of the concurrence of overriding reasons in the public interest of the first order, Prevalent over forest character, Demanding, in this case, the adoption of compensatory measures.
The legislative text under review creates the National Register of Cooperatives, Forest Companies and Industries, in order to allow the traceability of forest products and Due Diligence derived from the Regl. (EU) 995/2010 (EUTR), statistical information and regional and national forest planning. The competence of the management of this Registry will be autonomous.

To facilitate compliance in the Regl. (EU) 995/2010 (EUTR), The validity of a responsible declaration is established, whose content will be subject to regulatory regulation and a National Inspection Plan is established, in coordination with the Autonomous Communities.

The Regime of Infractions and Sanctions of the Law 43/2003 has shown shortcomings that can and should be addressed, in particular with regard to the factors of seriousness of environmental damage, moving from considering only the time needed for recovery to considering recovery and the seriousness of the violation. In addition, is considered a new infringement, for violation of the Regl. (EU) 995/2010 (EUTR), depending on the value of illegally introduced timber. The following are the main data relating to this modification:

Sanctioning Regime

The art. 67 of the law 21/2015 Indicates:

"A new letter r is added.) to the article 67 which reads as follows:

    r) Failure to comply with the obligations imposed by the Regulation (EU) 995/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 20 October of 2010, laying down the obligations of operators placing timber and timber products on the market, As for:

1.    The commercialization of unharvested timber and its derived products
2.    The absence of maintenance and evaluation of a due diligence system, either individually or through a supervisory body
3.    The lack of collaboration with the competent Administration in the controls carried out by it
4.    Failure to take corrective measures issued, in your case, by the competent authority after carrying out the relevant check
5.    Failure to comply with the obligation of traceability and retention of this information to which traders are subject"

On the other hand, Art. 68 of the law 21/2015 Indicates:

"The article 68 It reads as follows:

Article 68. Classification of infringements.

1.    Very serious infringements

c)    The offences defined in paragraph r) from the previous article, where the value of the wood exceeds 200.000 €.
d)    Recidivism, understood by this that the offender has committed a minor infraction, severe or very serious within one year if mild, two years if it is severe and five years if it is very serious, counted from the date of the final sanctioning resolution.

2.    Serious infringements

d)    The offences defined in paragraph r) from the previous article, where the value of the wood is equal to or less than 200.000 € but greater than 50.000 €
e)    Recidivism, understood by this that the offender has committed a minor infraction, severe or very serious within one year if mild, two years if it is severe and five years if it is very serious, counted from the date of the final sanctioning resolution.

3.    Minor infractions

e)    The offences defined in paragraph r) from the previous article, where the value of the wood does not exceed 50.000 €.
f)    Recidivism, understood by this that the offender has committed a minor infraction, severe or very serious within one year if mild, two years if it is severe and five years if it is very serious, counted from the fall of the final sanctioning resolution."

Finally, The amount of the sanctions associated with each type of infringement is recalled:

• Minor infraction: 100 to 1.000 €
• Serious infringement: 1.001 to 100.000 €
• Very serious infringement: 100.001 to 1.000.000 €, unless the amount of timber unduly marketed, or twice the cost of replacement of the damage caused, were more than one million euros. In this case, The penalty will be equivalent to the higher amount.

For more information, you can contact the General Secretariat of ANEPROMA.