Ontario · Amendment
Ministerial approval requirement for annual timber harvesting removed from Crown forest licences
Crown Forest Sustainability Act, 1994, S.O. 1994, c. 25 — under the Crown Forest Sustainability Act, 1994
Recorded date: July 16, 2026
Detected: July 17, 2026. Verify commencement in the official source.
Plain-language summary · AI-assisted
The requirement that forest resource licence holders obtain written ministerial approval before beginning harvesting each year has been repealed. Previously, licence holders also risked having that approval withheld if they owed outstanding Crown charges. Those rules no longer apply. The penalty provision has been updated accordingly, so that harvesting without the now-repealed section 44 approval is no longer a listed offence carrying up to a $15,000 penalty. Operators still must comply with the Forest Operations and Silviculture Manual and all remaining licence conditions. Licence holders should review their compliance programs to reflect that this particular pre-season approval step is no longer required.
Who this affects
forest resource licence holders · timber harvesting operators · Crown forest operations managers
Check the official text
94c25 on the official source ↗ · consolidated version 16 → 0
This page isn't an official version of the law and isn't legal advice. Summaries may omit details. Verify the dates and provisions that apply to you against the official source.