The European Commission has announced that it will propose a 12 month delay to the implementation of the European Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which was meant to take effect in December. The proposal will need the approval of the European Parliament and member states, over half of which asked Brussels to scale back the law in March.
The Commission released updated guidance on how companies and authorities can enable the implementation of the rule when it takes effect. One of the additions that will be developed during the year-long delay will be a single point of contact for IT support. It will help test the authenticity of geolocation files and provide multilingual instructions.
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The move will come as a relief to many. The looming deadline had been facing strong backlash from MEPs within the union, foreign governments with big agricultural industries such as Brazil and Indonesia, and industry actors.
Advocacy groups have criticised the slow pace of implementing environmentally urgent measures. Greenpeace EU forest policy director Sebastien Risso said “Ursula von der Leyen might as well have wielded the chainsaw herself […] The EUDR was agreed in December 2022, and it’s inexcusable that the Commission took so long to issue the supporting documents for the implementation of the law.”
What’s the EUDR?
The EUDR was introduced to limit the bloc’s contribution to global deforestation. Deforestation is the second largest contributor to global warming after fossil fuels.
The regulation is aimed at preventing exports that can be traced back to deforestation from entering the European market. It plans to have farms provide exact coordinates of their plots so they can be checked against satellite imagery by European customs.
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By GlobalDataIt faced major backlash from agricultural exporters in the Global South. Indonesia’s Chief Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto called it “regulatory imperialism.” China has said it refused to comply over “security concerns” and Biden’s administration has also expressed concern that it would harm American producers.
However, proponents have said that many stakeholders have been steadily preparing for the December deadline and that the delay would send many “back to square one.” Thailand, Ivory Coast, Paraguay and Argentina have all taken measures to prepare for the EUDR.
Human Rights Watch Researcher Luciana Tellez highlighted that “For months, the multiple documents intended to support the implementation of the EUDR have sat on Von der Leyen’s desk waiting to be published, while complaints about lack of guidance piled on […] It is incomprehensible. It would seem the commission president sabotaged the most significant environmental legislation passed during her previous term.”
