In DR Congo, artisanal loggers complain of the multiple charges and taxes they pay. It seems that the origin and nature of certain taxes and fees are not clear, therefore artisanal loggers are not willing to pay for these fees. According to the national legislation, all state taxes should be established by a legal instrument issued by a competent authority.
TBI DR Congo conducted a study to list the fees collected from the artisanal loggers. It has been found that a total of 27 fees are collected from which 21 are legal and 6 are illegal. Among the legal fees are taxes and other administrative costs related to the artisanal logging. Whereas illegal fees are those charged by some state officials without a legal basis and should not be paid. The list of fees has been compiled in a document to be used by the different actors involved in artisanal logging. The document was validated by different stakeholders and have agreed on the necessity of paying legal fees and not paying illegal ones.
The study and document was produced with the aim to raise awareness of artisanal loggers to respect the legality in the context of the project "FLEGT-VPA: associations of artisanal loggers in the service of legality and economic efficiency for all," that TBI DR Congo realizes with the support of FAO and the European Union.