Operation Licenses and user rights
Operating licenses are issued in the form of concessions (Art 25, forest law), village community forests (Article 41, forest law), HKV's (art 58, forest law) and ICL's (art 38, forest law).
Three types of licenses are available:
- Long-term: 10 to 20 years for a total area of more than 150,000 ha.
- Medium-term: 5 to 10 years for a total area of more than 50,000 ha
- Short-term: 1-5 years for a total area of more than 5,000 ha.
A concession gives the right to harvest timber and transport it in accordance with the license conditions (Art 27 forest law), the management and the exploitation plan. The concessionaire is obliged to pay a concession fee per hectare payable to SBB.
Requirements for application concession
Decision application concession and exploration
Application concession and exploration
Instructions for preparing a business plan
Height concession rights
Decision concession right
The system of issuing user right and taxes needs to be adapted considering the planned production increase. The forestry industry argues for a longer concession period and larger areas, so investments for sustainable forest are economically feasible. They advise the amount an increase of the concession fee, reducing dormant concessions.
Logging Permits
Logging Permits (HKV's) were originally issued to villages, for their own use. Commercial logging by forest contractors are more and more taking place in HKV areas. This logging must, like the one in concessions, be better tailored to sustainable forest management.
Because the HKV is written in the village chief’s or the village captain’s name, more often than not the community itself insufficiently share in the proceeds of the forest.
Permit to incidental logging
ICL's, Incidental Cutting Licenses are issued in conversion forests that can be felled completely in one setting. With ICL's no concession fee needs to be paid, but the charges as decided with the cutting register must be fulfilled.
Decision ICL
Application form ICL