Vol. 151, No. 8 — April 19, 2017

Registration

SOR/2017-52 April 13, 2017

FORESTRY ACT

Regulations Amending the Timber Regulations, 1993

P.C. 2017-375 April 13, 2017

His Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Natural Resources, pursuant to section 6 (see footnote a) of the Forestry Act (see footnote b), makes the annexed Regulations Amending the Timber Regulations, 1993.

Regulations Amending the Timber Regulations, 1993

Amendments

1 The definition Minister in section 2 of the Timber Regulations, 1993 (see footnote 1) is repealed.

2 Section 6 of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

6 The fees that are to be paid for a permit issued under section 7 are those that are imposed by the province in which the forest area is located and to which the permit applies.

3 Paragraph 7(6)(d) of the English version of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

4 Section 8 of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

8 If, under paragraph 7(6)(d) or 12(1)(b), the forestry officer includes terms or conditions in a permit or gives instructions for the protection of the forest area, those terms, conditions or instructions shall be to encourage regeneration and reforestation, to avoid damage to vegetation or to the timber that is not covered by the permit, and to avoid damage to the cutting and removal site and any animal habitats.

5 Paragraph 12(1)(c) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

6 Subsection 15(2) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(2) The amount of the security deposit, that is determined by the Minister in the agreement, shall be not less than 10% of the tender price.

7 Sections 17 and 18 of the Regulations are repealed.

8 (1) The portion of section 19 of the Regulations before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:

19 (1) Every permit holder and every operator shall remove from the forest area within any period that is specified in the permit or agreement or, if no period is specified in it, within 12 months after the expiry of the permit or the completion of operations in accordance with the agreement,

(2) Section 19 of the Regulations is amended by adding the following after subsection (1):

(2) However, on the request of the permit holder or operator and before the expiry of the specified period referred to in subsection (1), the forestry officer may extend that period by a maximum of 12 months having regard to the circumstances beyond the permit holder’s or operator’s control that prevent them from removing the things referred to in paragraphs (1)(a) to (c) within the specified period.

Coming into Force

9 These Regulations come into force on the day on which they are registered.

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)

Background

The Timber Regulations, 1993 (the Regulations) are made under the Forestry Act (the Act) and relate to the cutting and removal of timber on federal lands. These Regulations outline the general terms and conditions under which permits may be issued and agreements may be entered into with forest companies and/or individuals.

The Regulations pertain only to timber harvesting on federal lands, which represent only 4% of lands that are federally controlled, and which consist largely of national parks, Canadian Forces bases and federal research forests. Due to this ownership structure, there is very little commercial forestry on federal lands, and the bulk of the harvesting that does take place is in the form of silviculture treatments (silviculture treatments are actions taken to improve a stand or help it regenerate) undertaken in federal research forests for the purposes of scientific investigation.

These Regulations were prepublished in the Canada Gazette, Part I, on October 1, 2016, and no comments were received.

Issues and objectives

The Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations (SJCSR) and the Department of Justice reviewed the Regulations and identified the following issues:

The objective of the proposed changes is to bring greater clarity and cohesiveness to the Regulations in response to the issues raised by the SJCSR.

Description

A complete description of the changes suggested by the SJCSR is summarized below.

Consultation

The key stakeholders relevant to this proposal are federal land managers and research scientists, academics, and occasionally, small forestry operators contracted to do silviculture treatments. The operations managers for several federal research forests were consulted during the drafting process for these regulatory changes. Land managers were very supportive of the change to allow greater time for the removal of buildings and equipment from harvesting sites, as this flexibility would have the possible effect of minimizing environmental damage to the areas in question.

“One-for-One” Rule

The “One-for-One” Rule does not apply to this proposal, as there is no change in administrative costs to business.

Small business lens

The small business lens does not apply with respect to this proposal, as there are no costs (or insignificant costs) to small business.

Rationale

The regulatory amendments address recommendations made by the SJCSR and the Department of Justice, and improve the clarity and cohesiveness of the Regulations.

There is very minimal impact as a result of these changes, as they are technical in nature and only apply to timber harvesting on federal lands.

Implementation, enforcement and service standards

The Regulations Amending the Timber Regulations, 1993 come into force on the day on which they are registered.

Contact

Rhonda Burke
Strategic Analysis and Policy Development Division
Canadian Forest Service
Department of Natural Resources
580 Booth Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0E4
Email: rhonda.burke@canada.gc.ca
Telephone: 343-292-8508