The European Commission is set to delay its flagship anti-deforestation law after pressure from agrifood businesses and producer countries ramped up in recent weeks.
The Commission said on Wednesday it was proposing a delay of 12 months to the full implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) in response to “calls by global partners”.
The EUDR, considered one of the largest shake-ups to global supply chains in years, was supposed to roll out at the end of December 2024.
The regulation will require businesses who trade specific commodities that have notoriously been linked to illegal deforestation – including cocoa, coffee, soy, cattle, palm oil, rubber, and wood – to provide evidence that their goods were not sourced from deforested land.
This has led to major worldwide efforts to map out supply chains and improve traceability of these commodities, with companies having to produce robust due diligence paperwork.
The strict requirements would not only apply to companies within the EU but also those trading in or out of the bloc, meaning all UK businesses exporting to the EU or bringing in goods via its member states also had to abide by the law.
Failure to comply could result in major fines and restricted access to EU markets.
But calls for a deadline delay have been growing in recent weeks, with several countries’ agriculture ministers, trade lobbies and businesses across the global agrifood supply chain warning they would not be prepared for the original deadline.
“The Commission recognises that three months ahead of the intended implementation date, several global partners have repeatedly expressed concerns about their state of preparedness, most recently during the United Nations General Assembly week in New York,” the EC said.
“Moreover, the state of preparations amongst stakeholders in Europe is also uneven. While many expect to be ready in time, thanks to intensive preparations, others have expressed concerns.”
Read more: The deforestation regulation clock is ticking for food and drink
If approved by the European Parliament and the Council, the EUDR will instead become applicable on 30 December 2025 for large companies and 30 June 2026 for small companies.
The extra 12 months “can serve as a phasing-in period to ensure proper and effective implementation”, the Commission said in its 2 October statement.
“Given the EUDR’s novel character, the swift calendar, and the variety of international stakeholders involved, the Commission considers that a 12-month additional time to phase in the system is a balanced solution to support operators around the world in securing a smooth implementation from the start.”
Rumours of a delay had been bubbling for some weeks. Still, the u-turn announcement came only days after the Commission reiterated intentions to go ahead with the implementation date.
Environmental groups have condemned the decision, claiming European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen had bowed to the pressure of agribusiness lobbyists.
“Delaying the EUDR is like throwing a fire extinguisher out of the window of a burning building,” said Julian Oram, senior policy director at Mighty Earth. “It’s an act of nature vandalism that will serve only to drive more industrial destruction of tropical forests, threatening the people and wildlife who depend on them, while pushing climate and nature goals out of reach.”
“This smacks of EC President Ursula von der Leyen kowtowing to agribusiness lobbyists acting in the interests of their worst members, who whine about not being able to comply in time. It also ignores the fact that thousands of companies have readied themselves by mapping their supply chains and doing their due diligence.
“Shelving the one piece of legislation that would have a huge impact on tackling the climate and nature emergency is a betrayal of present and future generations of EU citizens and a decision that will come back to haunt Europe.”
Read more: A fifth of UK businesses still not ready for EU’s strict anti-deforestation laws
Nicole Polsterer, campaigner at NGO Fern, said von der Leyen had “bowed to constant pressure from companies and countries who knew the regulation was coming for years but haven’t prepared properly for it”.
“This is unacceptable, especially when so many other companies have invested time and money to be ready.”
Polsterer argued that, while some governments and industry are responsible for the delay, the EU “also shares the blame”: “It’s failed to work hand-in-glove with those who will be most deeply affected by the law”, Polsterer said, urging the bloc to strengthen dialogue with producer countries.
Big UK manufacturers including Nestlé, Unilever and Mondelez have all recently said they were expecting to be fully ready for the EUDR later this year, but this wasn’t the case for some smaller producers, the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) noted.
GAPKI chairman Eddy Martono said: “The Indonesian palm oil community welcomes the Commission’s proposed delay. Indonesia has been underlining the problems with EUDR for more than a year, and our calls have been listened to.
“Despite the steps today, our three key concerns remain: the exclusion of smallholders, support for our national certification and compliance systems, and recognition of Indonesia’s anti-deforestation efforts. We look forward to working co-operatively with the EU on this and other issues going forward.”
Read more: How cocoa is going green - chocolate category report 2024
The European Commission said the delay aimed to provide “certainty about the way forward and to ensure the success of the EUDR, which is paramount to address the EU’s contribution to the pressing global issue of deforestation”.
“The extension proposal in no way puts into question the objectives or the substance of the law, as agreed by the EU co-legislators,” it stated.
One of the key concerns for stakeholders was that the EU had not provided enough guidance on the requirements and how exactly they were going to be enforced.
With only a few months to go, many also claimed the bloc’s IT systems where the due dilligence paperwork was set to be processed were not ready yet.
The Commission has now published additional guidance documents and the latest FAQ with over 40 new additional answers.
It said the Information System where businesses can register their due diligence statements will accept early registrations in early November and be fully operational in December.
The Commission is also intensifying dialogues with concerned countries, it said, such that the country benchmarking system will be finalised by 30 June 2025.
No comments yet