ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FORESTRY CONTRACTOR CERTIFICATION MODEL

The paper presents the parts of the research necessary for the establishment of a licensing model of forest operations in Croatia. The present state of the issue has been estimated on the basis of a comprehensive analysis of the contractors and the accomplished work in the period 1998 – 2002. The estimate says that the present forest service and the completed forestry operations, notwithstanding their considerable proportion in the achievement of the productive tasks, are neither organised, nor qualified, and are thus not a stable partner in the production area of the Croatian forest management. Based on the assessed situation and the profiles of the service staff, and considering the developed forestry experience, a model for confirming the forestry contractors has been suggested, in order to enable the creation of the first formally authorised and qualified contractors. The suggested model is used to assess the possible licensors, the minimum conditions for entering the assessment procedure, the protocols and the participants in the assessment process, the legislations and the legal mechanisms (documents, administration process, etc.), the specialist institutions, and bodies involved in the licensing. The model suggests the implementation of the assessment procedure in two phases: 1. Authorisation of the forest contracting ; 2. Licensing, i.e. the assessment of qualifications and capabilities for carrying out forest operations. In order to win the licence that makes them qualified for the forestry contractor competition, besides the formal ones, in both phases the following additional conditions have to be fulfilled: special technical-technological, specialist/staff, economical/organisational, and ecological. Along with the licence, the mark of the business ability level is also acquired – Licence I, II, or III. The suggested model relies on the criteria, bodies, institutions and procedures that would assure objective evaluation and unbiased affirmation of the operators' qualifications, as a guarantee for expert, good, timely and economically successful performance of the forest operations.