The European Parliament and Council agreed to delay enforcement of the EU Deforestation Regulation by 12 months, lawmakers said. The rulemaking will impose a ban on products entering and leaving the EU, in order to ensure no such products are supporting global deforestation and degradation of forests, and will be in force from December 2025 for large enterprises and from June 2026 for micro and small ones. Though delayed, the conciliation rejected the demand for such a “no risk” classification that would have exempted countries considered low-deforestation-risk in many of the requirements by the regulation.
The EUDR was published by the European Commission in November 2021. These are targeted some of the main commodities that include palm oil, beef, timber, coffee, cocoa, rubber, and soy among others. The derived products that also come along include chocolate, furniture, leather, and tires. Companies have to comply with tight due diligence requirements before these products reach the EU market or are exported. Those standards include tracing back into the products to ensure that after the year 2020, none were sourced from areas that experienced forest clearance, and observing any applicable national laws at their place of manufacture.
This would be the law from June 2023, although the businesses had been afforded 18 months to get ready to comply-with the bigger businesses having originally meant to implement the rules by the end of 2024. At the global and EU level, there were, however, certain apprehensions on preparedness, and so, it is in that context, European Commission sought a one-year delay at its October 2024 instance and called this a “balanced solution”. It reasoned that time will help adjust businesses, farmers, as well as the international partners to the rule.
EU Commission to the Environment, Water Resilience and the Competitive Circular Economy Commissioner Jessika Roswall described as excellent praise toward certainty and predictability through which businesses are provided as it ensures effective implementation while underlining that the commission was able to listen to some of their feedback.
“The Commission has listened to their feedback,” she said in emphasizing the extension and adding “Reflecting a balanced approach.”.
The EPP, the largest political force in the European Parliament, has come up with a list of amendments that aims to ease the regulative burden: a “no risk” category for low-risk deforestation countries; two years’ delay until implementation; and exemption from traders. All of this was refused. In particular, EPP rapporteur Christine Schneider said she was “disappointed that some of their suggestions were not incorporated” and added that “we would have wished to see several issues enshrined directly in law but the Council refused.”.
Even the European Council found that with this debate, this targeted amendment will not kill the achievement of the objective of this regulation. The agreement, it said will ensure that only deforestation-free products can be sold in the EU or be exported from there.
EUDR, in general, aims at having the EU contribute nothing more to world deforestation and forest degradation and becomes an example of best practice. Companies affected by this regulation are going to be required to comply with all national legislation in the country where they produce and also ensure full supply chain information accompanies the products.
Though the delay was more of a pragmatic step, complexity also lies in that kind of comprehensive legislation implementation. According to the Commission, one of the prime reasons behind the adjustment included uneven readiness levels within the EU as well as among its global partners. The stakeholders now get more time before they will have to fall in with the requirements of regulation while conserving its integrity and ambitions for the environmental goals.
It waits for official ratification and approval by the European Parliament and Council. By the time it will ultimately be approved, this will signal an important step in the EU’s steps toward reduced deforestation even as that underlines challenges for reconciling environmental goals with economic and logistical realities.