Electronic Timber Tracking in Ukraine

Electronic timber tracking is a single electronic register of Ukrainian timber. Permanent forest users are obliged to electronically tag each log (or in case of firewood each batch) enabling to establish the legality of its harvesting, namely: description of the log, place and time, name of the team that carried out the procurement, transport document. Thus the system digitally represents the supply chain from forest to the buyer at the first processing facility. Electronic timber accounting has been implemented in Ukraine in phases since 2009, and is still running. At first the system was used only by permanent users under the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine (SFRA) and since 2020 it becomes obligatory to all permanent forest users in Ukraine. 

Technology, equipment and software come from Latchbacher (AT) and are adapted to the Ukrainian conditions. For foresters, as key users, the system decreases the time to register, process and report on sales of unprocessed timber. At the same time, it is also freely accessible for the general public on the website. Anyone can track the legality of timber origin knowing the number of the tag, or invoice number, or truck license plate. As of December 2019 electronic timber tracking is carried out by 504 enterprises (incl. 297 enterprises of the SFRA). Ministries and agencies are also connected to the system for control and information exchange purposes. In total, more than 3,700 mobile users are connected.