The Centre of Registers taking over the Forest Cadastre in Lithuania
The Centre of Registers, which maintains key national registers and information systems in Lithuania, has become the Data Processor of one more state system. On 1 January 2024, the Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania came into force and the Centre of Registers became the Data Processor of the State Cadastre of Forests of the Republic of Lithuania.
“The Centre of Registers has been maintaining the Real Property Cadastre and Register for many years where all basic data on the buildings and land parcels in the country is stored. Until the beginning of this year, information on forest land that could be found in separate state cadastres differed, areas of forests did not match, causing various problems and difficulties. After consolidating land parcel and forest data in one place, decision-making on the harmonisation of information in future will be possible. Therefore, the accuracy, relevance and reliability of data will be increased," says Kazys Maksvytis, Director of Registers Management at the State Enterprise Centre of Registers.
According to the Director of Registers Management, the Centre of Registers will make use of its experience in the management of cadastres and digitise the processes of preparation, registration and provision of data of the State Cadastre of Forests to customers. This will ensure a simpler and quicker access to and provision of all necessary information about the forests in the country.
Data to the State Cadastre of Forests is provided by forest managers (owners), persons performing state forest parcel inventory, developers of internal forest management projects, persons who initiated or organised the conversion of forest land into other lands (exceptional cases are provided for in the Law on Forests), specialists of the Environmental Protection Department and the State Forest Service.
The State Cadastre of Forests of the Republic of Lithuania is a specialised state cadastre established for accounting of forest land in the country and the management of forest data. The Forest Cadastre covers a whole set of data on Lithuanian forests, their ownership, quantity and quality of forest resources and economic value. It was established in 2003, and the Ministry of Environment is the Data Controller of the Forest Cadastre.
At present, more than 2 million hectares of forest land and almost 1.9 million forest inventory parcels are registered in the State Cadastre of Forests. This makes almost a third of the country’s territory.
The State Enterprise Centre of Registers creates and develops registers and information systems of national importance, processes their data and provides it to the data recipients. Currently, the Centre of Registers maintains 12 cadastres and registers of national importance (Real Property Cadastre and Register, Forest Cadastre, Register of Legal Entities, Population Register, Address Register, etc.) and 12 state information systems (Bailiffs’ Information System, e-Health, e-Delivery, e-Invoice, etc.).