Forest management planning works in Estonia

Forest inventories and forest management plans in Estonia may only be made by a company that holds an activity licence for forest management planning works under the Forest Act⁷¹³. The licence is decided by the Environmental Agency, and the inventory work itself must be done by certified forest surveyors⁸¹³¹⁶. This page sets out what the act requires and what LexorCorp Global OÜ does when a client applies.

Information as of 11 November 2026. Every numbered statement of this page was checked in the official text named below and re-checked by a second reviewer on 2026-11-11. The page is general information, not legal advice; the authority decides on every application.

What the activity is

Under the Forest Act (metsaseadus), forest management planning is carried out to obtain data on the condition and growing stock of a forest, to advise the forest owner and to plan long-term forest management activities¹. The act calls the operations together "forest management planning works" (metsakorraldustööd) and names two of them: forest inventory and the planning of forest management works². The works follow the forest management planning instructions set by regulation of the minister responsible for the field, which cover forest mapping, the aims and methods of inventory, the planning of management methods, the method of calculating the felling volume and the requirements for a forest management plan³.

A forest is inventoried by full-area survey per cadastral or management unit, or by a statistical sampling method⁴. Inventory data (except sampling data) are valid for ten years from their entry, together with the forest map data, in the national forest register, and data entered in the register may not be older than one year⁴. Together with the inventory, a forest management plan is drawn up for the owner unless the owner does not want one⁵.

Valid inventory data are compulsory for regeneration felling, thinning and selective felling; the act exempts regeneration felling based on a forest protection expert assessment and holdings where the forest area is under two hectares (owned by a legal person) or under five hectares (owned by a natural person)⁶. The forest notification (metsateatis) is filed by the forest owner or the owner's representative with the Environmental Board³³.

The legal act and the authority

Act: Forest Act (metsaseadus), §§ 11–13, redaction in force from 1 July 2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20). The licence obligation is in § 12⁷.
General licensing rules: General Part of the Economic Activities Code Act (majandustegevuse seadustiku üldosa seadus, MSÜS) applies to the application, its data and the time limit (see below)²¹²⁷.
Competent authority: the Environmental Agency (Keskkonnaagentuur, "the agency" in the act) decides the licence application⁸. The same agency organises the forest surveyor's exam and practical test and issues the certificate⁹.
Supervision: state supervision of compliance with the Forest Act is exercised by the Environmental Board (Keskkonnaamet)¹⁰.
Register: activity licences are recorded in the Register of Economic Activities (majandustegevuse register, MTR), whose controller is the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority; the licensing authority enters, amends and revokes the data¹¹. Inventory data produced by the licence holder go to the national forest register (metsaregister), whose controller is the Ministry of Climate¹².

Who must apply

A person or a state profit-making agency (riigitulundusasutus) must hold an activity licence to carry out forest management planning works⁷. The licence is granted to a legal person or a state profit-making agency¹³. Whether an exemption applies is specified for the client's situation. Under MSÜS, the activity may be started from the grant of the licence (or a later time stated in it)¹⁴.

Requirements for the applicant

The Forest Act lists what the agency checks (§ 12¹(1)). The applicant must¹³:

have sufficient technical equipment for the works, meeting the detailed requirements set by the minister's regulation¹⁵;
carry out the works with a forest surveyor (metsakorraldaja);
be able to meet the accuracy requirements for determining stand element characteristics set in the forest management planning instructions;
be able to meet the requirements of those instructions for planning forest management works.

Forest surveyor's certificate. A forest surveyor is a natural person who has passed the exam and practical test in the theory and practice of forest management planning and holds a valid forest surveyor's certificate¹⁶. To apply for the exam, a person must have higher or vocational secondary education in forestry or an equivalent qualification, and file an application with the agency¹⁷. The certificate is issued for five years; to extend it, the holder must attend two agency trainings during its validity, at least one of them with survey practice, and apply at least 30 days before it expires¹⁸. The competent authority for recognising a foreign professional qualification of a forest surveyor is the Environmental Agency¹⁹.

Other requirements. Whether further requirements apply, such as share capital, a fit-and-proper test of the management board or anti-money laundering (AML/CFT) obligations, is specified for the client's situation.

After the grant. The agency may revoke the licence, among other grounds, if the holder breaches the requirements for the works on 15 per cent of the cadastral units submitted in three months, distorts stand data on one unit in a way that may cause environmental damage of at least 6,400 euros, or determines growing stock with an error over 25 per cent²⁰.

Documents filed with the application

General data (MSÜS § 19(2))²¹:

the company's name and registry code, contact details (phone, e-mail, postal address), the field of activity and its classifier code, and the name and contact details of the signatory with the basis of representation;
any other data the law requires.

Forest Act data (§ 12⁴)²²:

a list of the persons carrying out forest management planning works for the applicant, with name, personal identification code, forest surveyor certificate number and date of issue, and the date of the employment contract or appointment order;
a list of the technical equipment used for the works that meets the requirements.

A company still being founded files the document proving the founding of the legal person instead of a registry code²³.

State fee and processing time

State fee: 320 euros for reviewing an application for the grant or extension of the activity licence (State Fees Act, riigilõivuseadus, § 142)²⁴. The fee is paid when the application is filed²⁵.
Initial response: the authority gives a first response by the third working day after the application, including the start date and the time limit of the proceedings²⁶.
Statutory time limit: the authority decides within 30 days, counted from the submission of all required data. If data are missing, it gives notice of this. It may suspend the time limit for up to 30 days and extend it once by up to 30 days²⁷. It may also ask for additional data to check the requirements²⁸.
No silent approval: if the agency does not decide within the time limit, the licence is not deemed granted²⁹.
Term: under MSÜS an activity licence is issued without a term unless the law provides otherwise³⁰.

These time limits are the law's, not a promise of when or how the agency will decide.

What LexorCorp Global OÜ does and how to order

The service is the site's general row "Activity licence application documentation": from €3,500, one-time; LexorCorp Global OÜ is not registered for VAT, so no VAT is added. State fees are paid by the client³¹. The service includes the requirements of the act for the activity, taken from its official text, and its deliverables are the submission through the Register of Economic Activities and the written follow-up of the authority's questions; the timeline is by agreement³².

In practice this means preparing the application data and annexes listed above (the forest surveyor list and the equipment list are drawn up from the client's own data) and managing the procedure with the agency. LexorCorp does not provide legal advice, audit or tax advice, does not carry out forest inventory or certify surveyors, and cannot promise the licence, a date or any decision of the Environmental Agency.

Order or request a price: order form

Sources

Metsaseadus § 11(1) — text in force from 01.07.2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20)
Metsaseadus § 11(2) — text in force from 01.07.2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20)
Metsaseadus § 11(3)-(4) — text in force from 01.07.2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20)
Metsaseadus § 11(4^1) — text in force from 01.07.2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20)
Metsaseadus § 11(4^3) — text in force from 01.07.2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20)
Metsaseadus § 11(4^2) — text in force from 01.07.2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20)
Metsaseadus § 12 — text in force from 01.07.2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20)
Metsaseadus § 12^3(1), § 12^2(2) — text in force from 01.07.2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20)
Metsaseadus § 12^2(2),(4) — text in force from 01.07.2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20)
Metsaseadus § 65^1(1) — text in force from 01.07.2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20)
MSÜS § 8(1),(4),(5) — text in force from 01.09.2025
Metsaseadus § 9(1),(3) — text in force from 01.07.2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20)
Metsaseadus § 12^1(1) — text in force from 01.07.2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20)
MSÜS § 16(4) — text in force from 01.09.2025
Metsaseadus § 12^1(2) — text in force from 01.07.2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20)
Metsaseadus § 12^2(1) — text in force from 01.07.2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20)
Metsaseadus § 12^2(3) — text in force from 01.07.2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20)
Metsaseadus § 12^2(4^1)-(4^3) — text in force from 01.07.2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20)
Metsaseadus § 12^2(6) — text in force from 01.07.2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20)
Metsaseadus § 13 — text in force from 01.07.2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20)
MSÜS § 19(2), § 15(1) — text in force from 01.09.2025
Metsaseadus § 12^4 — text in force from 01.07.2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20)
MSÜS § 19(4) — text in force from 01.09.2025
Riigilõivuseadus § 142 — text in force from 01.11.2026
MSÜS § 19(7) — text in force from 01.09.2025
MSÜS § 19(5) — text in force from 01.09.2025
MSÜS § 20(1)-(3) — text in force from 01.09.2025
MSÜS § 19(6) — text in force from 01.09.2025
Metsaseadus § 12^3(2) — text in force from 01.07.2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20)
MSÜS § 24(1); Metsaseadus §§ 12-12^4 — text in force from 01.09.2025
LexorCorp Global price list and service description (price list)
LexorCorp Global price list and service description (price list)
Metsaseadus § 41(1) — text in force from 01.07.2026 (RT I, 12.05.2026, 20)

Official sources

The laws this article names, each linked to its official text, as read on 9 October 2026. For the Estonian acts we read the English translation in Riigi Teataja; the legally binding text is the Estonian one.

State Fees Act — Riigi Teataja, English translation

Sources in the text are named without links; the official texts are linked under Official sources. To see which of our services your company needs, open the Business Navigator.

Forest management planning works in Estonia: the activity licence