Permanent Forest Sink Initiative Guidelines

Fees and charges

Application Costs
Proposed Charges for Applying for Carbon Units
Record keeping

Application Costs

The direct costs associated with the PFSI are cost recovered from participants. The table below outlines the costs payable for entering the PFSI.

Activity	Items included	Cost recovery method	Amount (excluding GST)
Application processing	Acknowledging application, checking for completeness, opening file, entering data and recording information, checking land eligibility, approving forest sink plan, preparing and signing covenant, and transferring data to national carbon accounting system.	One-off application fee and then hourly rate	$500 fixed fee plus $115 per hour for every hour over 4 hours (MAF will advise the applicant after receiving the application if the cost of processing it is likely to exceed $500 and provide an estimate of the additional time and cost required to process the application)
Travel	Travelling to and from site to assess application and land eligibility if required.	Rate per kilometre, actual and reasonable costs for meals and accommodation	69 cents per kilometre for motor vehicle travel, actual and reasonable costs for meals, accommodation, and transportation (including airfares), and $115 per hour of travel.

Proposed Charges for Applying for Carbon Units

The costs associated with the processing of a claim for carbon units and the associated audit requirements have yet to be finalised. These are expected to be in line with the costs for filing emissions returns under the proposed Emissions Trading Scheme (Forestry).

Record keeping

Participants must keep records of (and provide this information if requested):

• all carbon stock measurements in respect of the forest sink;

• harvesting within the boundaries of the forest sink;

• any changes of ownership of the forest sink; and

• any records required by the relevant Forest Sink Covenant.

The following information must be provided to MAF or the appropriate agency:

• any changes of ownership of the forest sink;

• details of any person acting on behalf of the landowner in respect of the forest sink; and

• details for physically accessing the forest sink, including a description of how access may be gained and the contact particulars of the person to be notified if access is required.

Records must be accurate, complete and reliable.

Further details of these requirements are set out in the Forests (Permanent Forest Sink) Regulations 2007

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