Law No. XIII-291 amending Forest Law No. IX-240.

Article 6 shall be amended to add the following wording: “Article 6. Obligations of state forest officials, legal and social guarantees. State forestry officials shall perform the following duties: (a) exercise state control over the condition, use, restoration and protection of forests; (b) organize and perform protection of forests against illegal actions - unauthorized forest felling, violations of forest management practices, plundering of wood and forest resources, poaching, forest pollution, littering, unauthorized access to forests, forest fires, damage to domestic livestock in forests; (c) control how forest managers, owners and users protect the forest from fires, pests, diseases and other negative factors, timely and properly restore the deforested forest, use the forest in ways that help reduce the negative impact on the environment, rationalize the forest land (in the forests), maintain soil productivity, preserve biodiversity, comply with the requirements of laws and other legal acts; (d) upon notification of violations of this Law and other legal acts regulating the use of natural resources, take all measures to identify the violation and identify the offenders, and inform the competent state authority thereof; (e) advise private forest owners on forestry issues; and (f) carry out educational activities in the field of forestry. State forestry officials shall have the following rights: (a) have and wear uniforms and distinguishing marks of established standard model; (b) stop and check transport means and documents in accordance with the procedure established by the Government or an institution authorized thereby, on suspicion that this vehicle is transporting timber, other forest resources acquired without a permit issued in accordance with the procedure established by the acting legislation or if the vehicle transports illegal game; (c) demand legal and natural persons to show certificates of purchase and use of forest resources and, if they are not available, require verbal and written explanations regarding actions related to the use of forest resources; (d) confiscate from the persons who have committed administrative misconduct, illegally acquired timber, other forest resources or illegal game, poaching means in accordance with the procedure established by acting legislation; (e) persons who have committed administrative offenses, with their consent, in accordance with the procedure established by acting legislation, to hand over them to the police or to the premises of the municipality subdistrict in the rural areas for the identification, and, upon their refusal, to apply to the police for the detention of a person subject to administrative liability; (f) suspend or prohibit unauthorized economic activity in a forest area if this activity violates this legislation, requirements of other legal acts and causes damage to the forest; (g) in accordance with the procedure established by law, draw up administrative offense records, impose administrative penalties for violations of the requirements of this Law and other legal acts provided for in the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Lithuania; (h) in accordance with the procedure established in the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Control of Weapons and Ammunition, to carry a firearm, and to use psychological and physical coercion and a firearm in the cases and according to the procedure established by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on State Control of Environmental Protection, with the exception of Paragraphs 4 and 5 of Paragraph 5 of Article 41; (i) in accordance with the procedure established by the law, draw up reports on violations committed by legal persons, investigate cases subject to the imposition of economic sanctions, and impose economic sanctions on legal persons for violations of this Law and other legal acts provided for in the Law on Environmental Protection of the Republic of Lithuania; and (j) exercise rights granted by other laws.”