Regulatory Decree N° 541 of Act 4884
of San Luis Province. Ministry of Industry and Production
Secretary of Farming, Ecology and Watering
Provincial Direction of Ecology and Forestation

San Luis, March 19, 1991

Whereas,

The herein proceedings related to Regulatory Decree N° 541 of Act 4884 of Forestry Promotion and,

Considering:

That the technical analysis carried out in the Ministry of Industry and Production by administrative levels provides that the said decree is suitable to establish the regulations for the activities of the Institute of Forestry Promotion provided in Act 4884.

That it also ponders the will of the Executive Power of the Province to introduce a real forestry policy so as to influence positively in ecological, economic and financial situation of the province and forestry producers and cooperate with them to increase substantially the area to be forested.

Therefore and in accordance with the order of the General Direction of Government Advisory folios 18 and the legal regulation herein mentioned,

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PROVINCE
IN ACCORDANCE TO MINISTERS
DECREES:

Chapter I

Section I ° in accordance to Act N° 4884 the Decree herein provides that it shall be understood by:

1. Forestry Plan: Plan where any necessary work of forestry and silviculture obtain the maximum benefits is included.
2. Forestry: The action of planting arboreal species on authorized lands in need of them, according to provided techniques in forestry plans.
3. Authorized Land: Those land under the conditions and regulations provided in Section 6 of Act 4884 that in accordance with professionals' technical reports is suitable to certain forestry species.
4. Successful Plantation: Those plantation with a yield percentage no less than ninety per cent, as from the third year of plantation and where the cultural works are observed in due time and in proper sanitary condition.

Chapter II

Presentations-Conditions

Section 2° for the purposes of the reception of the Forestry Plan Applications, the administrative authority provides annually the correspondent registry Under the term of Ministry of Industry and Production and a great diffusion of the said period that shall be of thirty running days shall be made.

Section 3° Applications' presentation shall be made in original and a copy and shall be all subscribed by the holder and his attorney-in-fact or legal agent duly authorized. Signatures therein must be certified by Public Notary or Justice of the Peace on the first page.

Section 4° Forestry plan must be submitted with the professional's signature with university degree of Agronomic or Forestry Engineer duly registered in the correspondent Professional Council and inscribed in the Registry of Professionals of Provincial Direction of ecology and Forestry. Professionals of said repartition must not sign the abovementioned forestry plans.

Section 5°Forestry plan must be attached with the original documentation hereinafter mentioned.

1. Forest Property chart with local references, distances to and from major geographical centers, timber related locations, neighbors and any other information that enable the place localization.
2. Certificate of property ownership issued by Real State Registry.
3. Property general chart, in land scale with limitations of the area to be forested and signaling prospecting pit duly identified and located.
4. Plan of forestry to be made with scale, year of plantation, limitations of road and streets against fire and chart numeral identification. Scales to be used from 1:1.000 to 1: 2.000.
5. Technical report of a professional according to technical and ecological standards of the administrative authority.

Section 6° Forests of a same owner shall be ruled according to a unique forestry plan, even though they shall be made in different properties.

Section 7° All the information approved in the forestry plan shall be deemed as affidavit and the data forgery and concealing shall be punishable with the corresponding administrative sanctions, without prejudice of the ones that shall correspond to the decree herein and current legislation. The non-fulfillment of the plan shall be applicable thereupon.

Section 8° Forestry plan approval by administrative authority shall not imply technical liability, either principal or subsidiary by the abovementioned Registry.

Section 9° Owners to whom the forestry plan shall be approved may connect with the Banco de la Provincia de San Luis according to their regulations.

Section 10° Development Plan approval by the said organization shall not empower to obtain a credit if the requirements and regulations of the said bank shall not been fulfilled and shall not imply the transfer of liability to the Nation for the Bank's failure.

Chapter III

Approval

Section 11° After thirty running days as of the closing date of applications' reception, and within the five subsequent calendar days the Forestry Plan holder, attorney-in-fact, legal agent or professional in charge must acknowledge the corresponding record to be notified of the modifications the Plan may have. Such observations must be fulfilled within the ten days subsequent to previous maturity date. The term is not extendible and peremptory. Plans shall be submitted within the period herein stated for the reception and modifications or new documentation shall not be introduced after that date, except from those being in response of asked explanatory information or intimacies made by the application law.

Section 12° Application Organism shall issue in a term no more than thirty days as of the closing date of Plans' presentation and application forms related to the plan's development on Approval, objection or refusal. If any approval, objection or refusal occur, they shall take place as from fifteen days of the date the holders submit the corresponding explanation to the application authority. After that the authorized nominees for the Tax Credit once the Forest certification by means a Resolution of the Provincial Direction of Ecology and forestry.

Section 13° the refusal grounds of the forestry plan shall be:

1. Forestry Plan application in unauthorized forms or out of the terms abovementioned.

2. Failure in requested document presentation within the maximum term when submitting the application.
3. Data omission amended information without the corresponding proviso under applicant's signature.
4. No submitance of forms by the holder, the technician or authorized person
5. No response within the term provided by section 11 herein due to the asking of explanations and observations or the no presentation of the asked complementary documentation.
6. The presentation of applications by people owners of unfulfilled previous forestry plans, under national or regional regime.
7. Plans that because of the measure of the area to be forested exceed tax credit quota authorized by Executive Power.
8. Forests that shall not be made on areas promoted on section 6° of Act 4884, except that, according to administrative authority, are duly qualified.

Section 14° Minimum area of a forestry plan shall be of 4 (four) hectares.

Section 15° For the purposes of the prorating, in case that the total area exceeds the fiscal credit quota, a maximum area shall be determined by each plan and the ones of same or less area shall be totally approved. Plans higher than the established quota, the area corresponding to the maximum limit shall be at least granted, if the total sum shall not reach the maximum quota, the remainder shall be distributed in equal parts between the last plans.

Chapter IV

Fulfillment

Section 16° to be creditor of the Fiscal credit effectiveness the following requirements shall be fulfilled:

1. Forest may not have failures higher than 10% (ten per cent) at the moment of the work registration corresponding to the third year completed as from the initiation.
2. Carrying out in due time and in proper form the cultural operations scheduled by the technician on the work plan.
3. Signs of forest abandonment and/or cultural operations carelessness in the forest that can endanger the normal development of trees shall not be shown.
4. External factors negative for the plants' growing that have been not provided even though when they could be done.

Section 17° In case of act of force majeure the forester needs more than three years to present the plantation in such conditions provided in the regulation herein, he can ask the administrative authority for the postponement of the work registration for one or more years, although fiscal credit shall not exceed in any case the expenses for a three-year forestry, at the current value in the year of the final registration.

Section 18° For the purposes of identifying the land of the ones forested, it is necessary that the Plans' owner/s make the signaling of any square by means of improvement and indicator panel where the number of record provided by administrative authority, square area, place and time of forestry shall be indicated. It is binding the forestry fence for animals' protection.

Section 19° Forestry Plan can be developed in one, two or more years But the forest of one year can not be less than one hectare

Section 20° Moving costs of the technicians of the administrative authority shall be charged to foresters.

Section 21° The forester can submit an application of forestry plan modification to the administrative authority. This Organism shall approve modifications justified by an unpredictable evolution of the plan situation.

Section 22° the authorized forestry plan can not be transferred to any other owner until the final work registration of the forest shall be approved except that there is an express authorization due to justified motives. In case of transference, the new owner/s shall assume the responsibility of the forestry plan continuity to its conclusion according to the terms and conditions provided in the original application of abovementioned plan, with the commitment of making no cuttings down before the date provided hereinabove.

Section 23° In case of transference of authorize plans, foresters shall submit professional's acknowledgement as responsible of the forestry plan by the part of the new owner/s. The partial transference of forestry plan shall be subject to the modification authorization by means the forester shall submit the administrative authority the division in two or more partial plans, one of them shall represent the part to be transferred. The interested party shall submit blueprints of the division authorized by the Provincial Direction of Real State.

Chapter V

Cost and refunds

Section 24° Before 30 June of each year the administrative authority shall inform the new cost of one hectare plantation and care of conifers, eucalyptus, salicaceous plants during the first three years to be considered a succeeded plantation. Different cultural activities with the corresponding costs taken into account for fiscal credit and the IMPROFOP (Provincial Institute of Forestry Production) official fares are provided in Annex 1 of the decree herein.

Section 25° LThe sum of the partial cost provided for the first three years shall be the ground of the fiscal credit calculation to be accredited to the beneficiary and which vary from 30% to 80% of officially provided values according to the following scale.

1. Eighty percent (80%) of officially provided value corresponds to succeeded plantations with a forestry loss up to ten percent (10%) in zones provided in Section 6° of Act 4884.
2. Sixty percent (60%) of officially provided value corresponds to succeeded plantations with a forestry loss up to ten percent (10%) in zones not provided in Act 4884.
3. Fifty percent (50%) of officially provided value corresponds to succeeded plantations with a forestry loss up to thirty percent (30%) in zones provided in Section 6° of Act 4884.
4. Thirty percent (30%) of officially provided value corresponds to succeeded plantations with a forestry loss up to thirty percent (30%) in zones not provided in Act 4884.

Section 26°The certification of the administrative authority shall be final and conclusive and the forester can ask for a new certification in the following year/s in the event he could not obtain the thirty percent (30%) of the plantation.

Section 27° Administrative authority, due to the net resulting value, shall hand the beneficiary within the thirty days of having drawing up the final work certificate as many bonds as hectares have been forested. The bond value, so called Green Bond (Bono Verde) have the signature of Ministers of Finance, Industry and Production as well as of the Director of the Provincial Direction of Ecology and Production.

Section 28° The Bonos Verdes are transferable by endorsement and can be used at 100% of its par value by beneficiaries or endorsees to cancel their tax liabilities of any tax whose application, collection and control are in charge of the Provincial Direction of Public Revenues, (automotive tax is not included).

Section 29° The Banco de la Provincia de San Luis shall acquire the Bonos Verdes at its 80% par value and shall deduce the net value in the account the Executive Power shall indicate for this purpose. In case of any demand, the Bank can resale the Bonos Verdes acquired at a minor par value to people interested in cancel their tax liabilities.

Section 30°the Bonos Verdes mature definitely 31 December of the next year of the bond issue.

Section 31°Administrative authority shall inform the Executive Power the number of applications of forestry plans with hectares to be forested and cost calculation to include them in the budgetary provision and the future Bonos Verdes issue before 15 September of each year.

Chapter VI

Real State Tax

Section 32° Forest proprietors who shall want to develop fire prevention practices must submit to the administrative authority an application with all the documentation set forth in the current legislation.

Section 33° Once the application is approved and the task is done, the administrative authority shall grant with a previous inspection the final work certificate where the deforested hectares and the value investment based on the official cost and fares of IMPROFOP authenticated by the Minister of Industry and Production and the State Sub Secretary of Farming Production, Ecology and Irrigation are indicated. The beneficiary shall be rebated with a fiscal credit equal to the 50% of the certified value chargeable to Real State Tax at the application in the Provincial Real State Bureau. The said certificate is intrasferable.

Chapter VII

Technical principal and inspections

Section 34° the principal professionals shall be jointly and severally liable with the owners of forestry plans for the purposes of the fulfillment in the terms set forth in the application up to the final work certificate as from the third year.

Section 35° the owner of the forestry plan shall ask for the professional change with their consent.

Section 36° Administrative authority shall grant the needed advisory at expenses of the owner's plan the technician's traveling allowances.

Chapter VIII

Technical principles

Section 37° For the purposes of forest stands a minimum of 1,5 meters and maximum of 3 meters between plants and a minimum of 2,5 meters and a maximum of 1,5 to 3 meters between rows shall be considered respectively. The minimum surfaces are of two hectares .It is calculated as follows: in case of a stand of one row (simple stand) the length of the stand by six meters wide.

In the case of stands of two rows (double stand) the length of the stand by the distance between rows plus 7 meters. For the purposes of fiscal credit, a cost per hectare equivalent to 50% of forestry cost set forth in section 24 shall be considered.

For the Alamo criollo (populus nigra) the following limits will be considered.

1. For one row stands a minimum distance of1 meter and maximum of 2 meters between plants
2. For two rows stands a minimum distance of 1,5 meters and maximum of 3 meters between plants.

Section 38° Plantation with poplar spikes with the exception of stand plantation shall not be allowed.

Section 39° for salicaceaus initial minimum density is of 833 plants per hectare (3x4) and the minimum up to the final cut of 333 plants per hectare (3x10). For eucalyptus initial minimum density is of 1600 plants per hectare (3x2) and the minimum up to the final cut of 833 plants per hectare (3x4)

Section 40° for pines and cypresses minimum distance between plants is of 3 meters and the same distance is between rows (1111 plants per hectare) taking into account soil and watering characteristics.

For carob tree and calden, initial minimum density of plantation for timber exploitation is of 1111 plants per hectare; plantation initial density is 7400 plants (5x5).

Section 41° in compact plantation "corridors or fireguards" in all perimeters of a 20 meters width shall be done. The stands shall not exceed 20 hectares each and must have a separation of 30 meters between them. Corridors and fireguards shall be considered in the total area of the forestry plan.

Section 42° for the purposes of act 4884 and the regulatory decree herein, the administrative authority shall be Provincial Direction of Ecology and Forestry.

Section 43° The present decree shall be legalized by Ministers, State Secretaries of Ministry of Industry and Production, Treasury and Public Works, Government, Justice; Culture and Education, and General Secretary of the Provincial Government.

Section 44°to be given, published in the Official Registry and filed.