The EU's deforestation obligations will be delayed for a year to allow companies to comply with a law that ensures products sold in the EU do not come from deforested land.
In response to concerns from EU Member States, non-EU countries, traders and operators that they will not be able to fully comply with the rules if they are applied from the end of 2024, the Commission has proposed postpone the date of application of the deforestation regulation by one year. The Plenary agreed in October 2024 to deal with the proposal under the urgent procedure - Rule 170(6) of the Rules of Procedure. Today, this postponement and other amendments were agreed by 371 votes in favour, 240 against and 30 abstentions.
Large operators and traders would have to comply with the obligations under the Regulation from 30 December 2025, while micro and small enterprises would have until 30 June 2026. This additional time would help operators worldwide to implement the rules smoothly from the outset without undermining the objectives of the law.
The Parliament also adopted other changes proposed by political groups, including the creation of a new category of countries that pose "no risk" of deforestation, in addition to the existing three categories of "low", "standard" and "high" risk. Countries in the "no risk" category, defined as those with stable or increasing forest cover, would be subject to much less stringent requirements, as there is little or no risk of deforestation. The Commission will have to complete the country benchmarking system by 30 June 2025.
Parliament decided to refer the file back to committee for interinstitutional discussion. For these amendments to enter into force, the agreed text will have to be approved by both the Council and Parliament and published in the Official Journal of the EU.
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates, that 420 million hectares of forests were deforested between 1990 and 2020, an area larger than the EU. EU consumption accounts for approximately 10 % of global deforestation. More than two thirds of which is accounted for by palm oil and soy.
Aim Deforestation Regulationadopted by the Parliament on 19 April 2023, aims to combat climate change and biodiversity loss by preventing deforestation linked to the consumption of products from cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soya, wood, rubber, charcoal and printed paper in the EU. It has been in force since 29 June 2023 and its provisions were to be applied by businesses from 30 December 2024.
European Parliament/ gnews - RoZ
