DESCRIPTION OF THE FOREST REVENUE SYSTEM IN NIGER

Niger is not a major roundwood producing country. Other that the use of wood for woodfuel, roundwood is used as bois d’œuvre and bois de service.

In Niger, only the rônier species is strictly considered as bois de service and a special taxation rate applies to this wood. The tax rate on rônier is fixed as follows:

eighteen thousand (18,000) FCFA standing, equal to three thousand (3,000) FCFA per piece (latte) in uncontrolled harvesting areas; and

seven thousand eight hundred (7,800) FCFA standing, equal to one thousand three hundred (1,300) FCFA per piece in controlled and guided harvesting areas.

For transportation, rônier is treated the same as woodfuel and the regulations described in the following section (the tax system for the collection of woodfuel) are applicable to it.

With regard to bois d’œuvre and other industrial roundwood, the tax rate is set according to the butt diameter of the log, as follows:

two hundred (200) FCFA per twenty pieces for wood with a diameter of less than or equal to 5cm;

one hundred and fifty (150) FCFA per piece for wood with a diameter greater than 5cm and less than 10cm; and

three hundred (300) FCFA per piece for wood with a diameter greater than 10cm and less than 20cm.

The tax rate on bois d’œuvre and other industrial roundwood with a butt diameter greater than 20cm depends on the species (see Table 1 below). These tax levels are based on the availability and quality of each species.

Context

The system of tax collection and inspection of locally produced fuelwood and charcoal in Niger is governed by decree 92-037 of 21 August 1992. Its areas of application are in decree number 96-930 of 22 October 1996 and the order number is 39/MHE/DE of 15 July 1997 as well as in the new forestry law. This system is part of the political framework implemented by the State since 1992 called the "Domestic Energy Strategy" (SED).

The main goal of the SED with respect to forestry, is that of stabilising the consumption of woodfuel in the big urban centres in Niger by intervening according to the following criteria:

establishing supply guidelines for wood energy in urban centres;

giving the responsible forestry services a directive and advisory role in the protection of forestry resources, rather than a role of repression;

putting into place an information system and follow-up actions developed on the basis of forestry training, forest monitoring and changes in woodfuel prices;

transferring responsibilities, by using a legal framework, from the State to the people involved in the development of forest resources, including the commercialisation of woodfuel and tax collection on the transport and sale of wood; and

guiding development to the most favourable areas where producers are organised into rural wood markets.

The SED is outlined in the regulations that every wood haulier is subject to tax except when:

the wood being transported is from harvesting in private registered forests and is recorded as such by some means of testing established by law;

resident users of a forest are exercising their traditional right of use in accordance with the clauses of the forestry code; or

public organisations without a working budget are provided with special authorisation from the minister responsible for forestry.

Tax system and applicable rate of tax

The rate of transport/commercialisation tax for woodfuel is fixed as following:

nine hundred and seventy five (975) FCFA per stacked cubic metre for fuelwood from uncontrolled harvesting;

three hundred and fifty (350) FCFA per stacked cubic metre for fuelwood from controlled harvesting; and

three hundred and seventy five (375) FCFA per stacked cubic metre for fuelwood from guided harvesting.

The tax rate on the transport and commercialisation of charcoal is obtained by multiplying the rate of application per kilo of wood by five (5), which is:

nineteen francs fifty (19.50 FCFA) per kilogram for charcoal from uncontrolled harvesting.

seven francs (7 FCFA) per kilogram for charcoal from controlled harvesting; and

seven francs fifty (7.50 FCFA) per kilogram for charcoal from guided harvesting.

Reductions applied to these taxes

In the cases of controlled and guided harvesting (also called rural wood markets), reductions or allowances are applied to these tax rates, based on the distances between production sites and centres of consumption. This is to encourage sellers/hauliers to go further into the harvesting zones where resources are more abundant. The rate of allowances are fixed as follows:

0% reduction in the tax on the stacked cubic metre of fuelwood or charcoal bought at rural markets situated less than 40km from an urban centre;

10% reduction in the tax on the stacked cubic metre of fuelwood or charcoal bought at rural markets situated between 40 and 80km from an urban centre; and

20% reduction in the tax on the stacked cubic metre of fuelwood or charcoal bought from rural markets situated more than 80km from an urban centre.

Distribution of taxes

Tax revenues from Local Management Structures (LMS) and the Forest Service are distributed according to a distribution scheme defined by Decree No 92-037 (see Table 2). They are shared between the public treasury, the LMS where tax is levied and the territorial community.

The revenue returned to the LMS (see Table 3) is itself distributed between a Management Fund (destined for the maintenance and management of local forests) and a Village Development Fund (for other allocations, such as education, health, small loans etc., which are left to the discretion of the inhabitants).

The revenue returned to the territorial communities is also distributed in a similar way (see Table 4) between a Management Fund (allocated for the maintenance and management of forests in the district) and a Community Development Fund (for other uses left to the discretion of the community).

The public treasury’s share of forest revenues from taxes on the collection of woodfuel (excluding tax revenues from imports or customs transactions on wood products) is also distributed into two funds (see Table 5). This is distributed between the Monitoring Fund (named Account 3001), which was set up to finance, on a nation-wide scale, monitoring operations and administrative follow-up in forests, and the State Budget (Treasury Development Fund).

The percentages above were based on the distribution table laid out in Article 24 of Decree No 92-037, authorising the Ministry responsible for forestry to deduct tax directly for the Monitoring Fund as follows:

1 FCFA/kg of fuelwood or 5 FCFA/kg of charcoal from treasury revenue in uncontrolled harvesting;

100% of treasury revenue in controlled harvesting; and

0.4 FCFA/kg of firewood or 2 FCFA/kg of charcoal from treasury revenue in guided harvesting.

The Monitoring Fund is a deposit account in the public treasury created by Decree No 052/MF/C/TG and given the number 3001. This account is credited with 40% of all forest revenues paid to the public treasury by the Water and Forest Service. It finances the following expenditures:

provision and operation of forest monitoring teams;

provision and operation of protection and management units in natural forests undergoing erosion;

military training and recycling initiatives involving participation from personnel who protect nature; and

all expenditure involved in the protection of nature.

The tax system for transgressions and sales of confiscated wood is determined according to the clauses in the documents for the application of forestry law and Niger’s fiscal system. The Ministry of Finance is responsible for issuing receipts and for monitoring the regularity of operations. This revenue is collected by the State Forestry Department in the place where the offence took place and is paid into the public treasury by the Water and Forest Service personnel.

Decree 88-385/BOM/MF of 15 September 1988 sets out the distribution of revenue obtained from fines, transactions, damages and sales of confiscated wood. This distribution is defined as follows:

Public treasury : 75%

Water and Forest Service personnel : 25%

The 25% of revenue allocated to Water and Forest Service personnel is intended to encourage them to watch over the ecosystem and to avoid any misappropriation of funds. This is divided between the different staff members as shown in Table 6 below.

The fiscal system is more or less defined according to the product type:

Tax system for NWFP (exudates, fruit, bark, leaves and roots)

Harvesting of NWFPs from trees (such as exudates, fruit, bark, roots and leaves) is currently carried out by the craft industry, either for people’s own consumption or for sale in the local market. The commercialisation of NWFPs is not organised and is done according to the availability of the product (fruit yielding season). Currently, there is no tax on the harvesting and transport of these products. Given the importance of these products, fiscal reform (comparable to that contained in decree 92-037 on the transport and commercialisation of woodfuel) is currently being examined.

However, the commercialisation of these products in local markets is subject to the payment of a market tax, collected by communities. This tax does not depend on the type of NWFP. It varies between 100 and 200 FCFA per stall per week (in rural areas) or per day (in urban areas).

Exceptionally, when product harvesting is done industrially (in the case of medicines) other duties are paid when removal or harvesting for commercial use is authorised. These taxes are collected at control posts situated at the entrance to built-up areas and the revenue is paid again to the public treasury through an official appointed for this purpose.

Tax system for forestry ecotourism

In Niger, an ecotourism tax is only collected at Park W. This tax, levied for a day visitors pass, cost 1,000 FCFA per head from 1978 until 1986. From 1987 onwards, it was increased to 3,500 FCFA per visitor. Tourist visits are also frequent in other forest domains such as the giraffe zone and the Air-Ténéré reserve. There is currently no data available about the estimated tourist revenue in these zones.

Tax system for wildlife and hunting

The tax system for hunting and wildlife products in Niger is governed by Law No 98-07 of 29 April 1998. In Article 13 this law sets out the tax to be paid with permits for hunting and capturing animals, tax on the slaughter of animals, licences for hunting guides and agents, licences to keep animals and hunting permits for scientific purposes (see the tables to follow).

An inclusive price (100,000 FCFA) is applied to nationals who wish to hunt aquatic birds, which is 20,000 FCFA for the permit for small-scale hunting and 80,000 FCFA for the slaughter permit.

Tax rates for hunting guide and agents licences are fixed as follows:

a hunting guide licence valid for a cynegetic zone during a hunting season costs 500,000 FCFA; and

an agent’s licence valid for a cynegetic zone during a hunting season costs 1,500,000 FCFA.

Revenue collected on issuing permits, licences and other services is divided as follows

Public treasury : 30%

Wildlife Management Fund : 30%

Water and Forest Service personnel : 25%

Territorial communities : 15%

Revenue from the sale of hunting permits, licences to keep animals, tax on the slaughter and capture of animals, licences for hunting guides and agents are distributed as follows:

Public treasury : 20%

Wildlife Management Fund : 30%

Territorial communities : 50%

Revenue from wildlife and hunting produce (taxes on animal transfer, transgressions and fines) paid to the public treasury are distributed between Account 3002 (used for the national financing of monitoring operations and for the administrative follow-up of hunting and wildlife activity) and the state budget (see Table 12).

Account 3002 was opened in March 1997 at the public treasury and was named the "Wildlife Management Fund or Monitoring Fund". It is used for financing the following operations:

the provision and operation of hunting control teams;

the provision and operation of wildlife protection and management services;

the improved performance and recycling of personnel responsible for the protection and conservation of wildlife; and

all duly justified expenses in wildlife protection and management.

Niger is not a major wood producing country. The country has never had an industry for transforming wood or by-products (sawnwood, paper, wood pulp and wood panels). There are however, some small sawmills with low production capacity, which were set up for the small-scale sawing of imported wood. All industrial roundwood is imported from either Nigeria or the Ivory Coast, or wood is imported from the European Community for secondary transformation. Wood represents a very negligible part of foreign trade. The proportion of wood in all imports (all products together) scarcely went beyond 0.5% from 1975 – 2000 in financial value and 1% in quantity (Kg) of products. Imported secondary processed products are either destined for national consumption (and, thus, are only subject to the payment of licences and local authority taxes), or they are just passing through the country. In any case, indirect taxes on the wood are levied. This taxation on the production and transformation of wood is determined by regulations set out in Niger’s tax system, a document written by the public treasury. These taxes are:

Licence fees: businesses are taxed according to their turnover;

Industrial and Commercial Profit (ICP): tax calculated on results according to the company’s statement of accounts. Those who do not oversee their accounts are subject to the Inclusive Tax on Profits (ITP);

Inclusive Minimum Tax (IMT): this is calculated on annual turnover at the rate of 1% of turnover;

Training Tax (TT): is calculated on the salaries of all company personnel, including all benefits, at the rate of 1.2%;

Tax on Certain General Company Costs (TCGCC): this tax is calculated on gifts, donations, entertaining and congress expenses, travel costs, benefits in kind etc. at the rate of 30%; and

Value Added Tax (VAT): this is calculated on turnover at the normal rate of 17%, a lower rate of 10% and a higher rate of 24%.

These taxes are applicable depending on the type of company:

for wood companies: all taxes are applicable;

for traders in forest products, only the licence fees and ITP are applicable; and

for interior decorators, jobbers and carpenters: the licence fees, ITP and VAT are applicable.

Wood and derived products are liable to duty and tax on entering and leaving the country. These taxes on wood products (roundwood, sawnwood, wood panels, NWFP, paper, wood pulp, etc.) are collected by the Customs Service. The Water and Forest Service provides a permit for free movement within the country. This permit for free movement is issued at the first port of entry of the product and is free of charge. The different taxes that are levied are outlined as follows:

Customs duty: is applied at 10% of the value at point of entry, during normal times; produce from European Union countries are also subject to this duty;

Tax duty: this is fixed at 7% of the value of all products under Chapter 44 (of the Harmonised System of customs codes) except 442890 where it is 10 to 0% for certain countries in ECOWAS;

Production tax: this corresponds to 26% of the value of production from 1976 until 1984; it was replaced by Value Added Tax in 1985 which is 17% of the value-added;

Statistical tax: is fixed at 5% on all products from everywhere; and

Regional Co-operation Tax (RCT): this is applied to certain products from ECOWAS and the rate varies from 0 to 6%; on wood imports, only products from the Ivory Coast have been subject to this tax. This tax is paid into the ECOWAS Community Development Fund.