Government adopts Emergency Ordinance to reorganize Romsilva

The Government adopted, on Friday, in a meeting, an Emergency Ordinance to amend the Law on the Forestry Code and to establish fiscal-budgetary measures, thus creating the legal basis for the reorganization of the National Forestry Agency (RNP) Romsilva, at the proposal of the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests.

"The adoption of the normative act is justified by the need to correct the existing legal framework for the proper implementation of Milestone 24 of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan of Romania. At the same time, the normative act creates the premises for sustainable management of the state's public forest fund administered by Romsilva," a Government statement states.

Practically, the GEO adopted on Friday amends art. 32 paragraph (2) of Law no. 331/2024 on the Forestry Code and for establishing fiscal-budgetary measures. According to the current form of article 32, within a maximum of 90 days from the date of entry into force of the law, "at the proposal of the Authority, the Government, by decision, shall adopt the Regulation on the organization and functioning of Romsilva", which shall be published in the Official Gazette.

According to the Forestry Code, the central public authority for forestry is organized and functions as a specialized body of the central public administration and represents the state authority in the field of forestry with the role of implementation, regulation, coordination and control.

The project was also on the agenda of the Executive meeting on Thursday, but was not adopted. Government spokesperson Ioana Dogioiu stated that the decision to postpone was based on reasons related to its approval.

The reorganization of Romsilva aims at regionalizing the forestry departments. Currently, there are 41 forestry departments, one in each county, but the Government project provides for 12 forestry departments.

"This means a decrease of almost 70% in the number of forestry directorates. It is a necessary decrease, including for the efficiency of Romsilva's activity. There is no real need for 41 directorates. There is a need, including, for efficiency. Too much administrative apparatus that functions for each directorate," said the Minister of Environment, Waters and Forests, Diana Buzoianu, at the time of the presentation of the Romsilva reorganization project, namely on August 4.

At the same time, a 90% decrease in the number of directors is expected, with each regional forestry directorate having only one director. Currently, there are two to four directors in each directorate.

Reducing the number of directors will allow for a saving of 19 million RON, money that will be used by Romsilva for forest administration.

The project and financial efficiency measures. More precisely, the following activities will be separated: forest management, exploitation, road maintenance and the valorization of wood products.

In addition, the draft normative act will also contain financial performance indicators, and directors and heads of districts will have minimal performance criteria. These will include: the number of training hours, the number of training activities followed, the areas of the forest fund covered by video surveillance means, the identification of remarkable trees, the identification of aging islands.