{"id":59356,"date":"2025-08-04T09:13:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T07:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nssud.sk\/?p=59356"},"modified":"2026-04-22T12:57:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T10:57:06","slug":"incidental-logging-in-a-smaller-area-resulting-in-the-creation-of-a-large-clear-cut-in-a-zone-with-the-third-level-of-protection-is-not-permissible-without-approval-from-the-relevant-authorities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nssud.sk\/en\/incidental-logging-in-a-smaller-area-resulting-in-the-creation-of-a-large-clear-cut-in-a-zone-with-the-third-level-of-protection-is-not-permissible-without-approval-from-the-relevant-authorities\/","title":{"rendered":"Incidental logging in a smaller area, resulting in the creation of a large clear-cut in a zone with the third level of protection, is not permissible without approval from the relevant authorities"},"content":{"rendered":"

On April 30, 2025, the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic, by judgment Case No. 8Stk\/14\/2024, dismissed the cassation appeal of a forest manager regarding the imposition of a fine for the implementation of a large number of small-scale timber harvesting operations carried out in the territory of the Mal\u00e1 Fatra National Park with the third level of protection, without the approval of the competent authorities, which resulted in the creation of a large clearing. The court stated that incidental logging, which may result in a clearing with an area of more than 0.3 ha in an area with the third level of protection, may be carried out only on the basis of a positive opinion of a nature conservation organization or to the extent and under the conditions determined by the decision of the nature conservation authority. This also applies to incidental logging operations carried out in a smaller area, which in the overall context result in the creation of a clearing with an area of more than 0.3 ha or its expansion.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The forest manager carried out several small incidental logging operations in the Mal\u00e1 Fatra National Park from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2021, which were smaller than 0.3 ha. However, the small incidental logging operations created a clearing with an area of more than 0.3 ha. The heavy logging operations were carried out without the consent of the nature conservation organization or without a nature conservation decision, usually on the 10th day after the receipt of the logging notification. The logging company was not authorized to operate in an area with the third level of protection. As a result of this procedure, the company was fined.<\/p>\n

The Court of Cassation stated that the rule allowing incidental logging to be carried out no earlier than on the 10th day after the delivery of the logging notification to the state forestry administration (\u00a7 23(10), first sentence of Act No. 326\/2005 Coll. on Forests; hereinafter referred to as the “Forests Act”) does not apply in cases where a special regulation applies to protected areas (\u00a7 23(6) of the Forests Act). Such a special regulation includes the prohibition of incidental logging that may result in a clear-cut area larger than 0.3 hectares in a zone with the third level of protection, unless a positive opinion has been issued by the nature protection organization or the logging is carried out within the scope and under the conditions set by a decision of the nature protection authority (\u00a7 14(8) of Act No. 543\/2002 Coll. on Nature and Landscape conservation, as amended; hereinafter referred to as the “Nature Conservation Act”).<\/p>\n

Agreeing with the opinion of the administrative court and the competent authorities, the Court of Cassation further stated that the rule according to which incidental logging in areas with the third level of protection, in which a clearing with an area of more than 0.3 ha may be created, may be carried out only with the approval of the competent authorities, also applies to accidental logging, which in itself concerns an area of less than 0.3 ha. What matters is whether, in the overall context, the incidental logging may result in the creation of a clear-cut area exceeding 0.3 hectares. As the Court of Cassation noted, \u201cthis interpretation is also consistent with the purpose and intent of the Nature and Landscape Protection Act, which aims to prevent the creation of large clear-cut areas without prior assessment of incidental logging by the competent authority and reflects the interest in a comprehensive assessment of the consequences of planned logging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the forest manager carried out several small-scale incidental logging operations in the territory of the Mal\u00e1 Fatra National Park during the relevant period, which resulted in the creation of a clear-cut area larger than 0.3 hectares, and did so without a positive opinion from the nature protection organization and without a decision from the nature protection authority, he violated \u00a7 14(8) of the Nature Protection Act. This constituted an administrative offense, for which a fine was imposed. The Court of Cassation therefore dismissed the logging company’s cassation complaint, thereby upholding the judgment of the administrative court and the final decisions of the competent authorities regarding the imposition of the fine.<\/p>\n

This judgment was adopted unanimously by the Supreme Administrative Court; no remedy is permitted against it.<\/p>\n

The decision was made by Panel No. 8 of the Supreme Administrative Court, composed of: President of the Panel Mgr. Krist\u00edna Babiakov\u00e1 (Judge-rapporteur) and the members of the Panel JUDr. Anita Filov\u00e1, and JUDr. Rastislav Dlugo\u0161, PhD.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On April 30, 2025, the Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic, by judgment Case No. 8Stk\/14\/2024, dismissed the cassation appeal of a forest manager regarding the imposition of a fine for the implementation of a large number of small-scale timber harvesting operations carried out in the territory of the Mal\u00e1 Fatra National Park with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":49383,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release","category-administrative-agenda"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nssud.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nssud.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nssud.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nssud.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nssud.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59356"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.nssud.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84571,"href":"https:\/\/www.nssud.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59356\/revisions\/84571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nssud.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nssud.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nssud.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nssud.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}