Ferrero, Nestlé, Barry Callebaut, and Tony’s Chocolonely urge no re-opening of EUDR
Deforestation has increased through a number of sectors including with palm oil and cocoa. Pic: Shutterstock
Major businesses including Ferrero, Nestlé, Barry Callebaut, Valrhona and Tony’s Chocolonely, have joined with sector organisations including Rainforest Alliance and the Voice Network urging the EU to stand firm in not reopening key EUDR deforestation regulations, reports Neill Barston.
The collective has put a renewed open letter plea to the EU Commission to assert the urgent need to keep the legislation in place as planned – after it has already suffered two high-profile setbacks totalling two years due to sustained lobbying from centre right political groups and some companies within the food sector.
As Confectionery Production has previously reported, despite the majority of businesses operating across the sector, including many players within the confectionery, snacks and bakery markets, the legislation, which was originally due to come in at the end of 2024, has suffered repeated setbacks.
Under the new legislation, companies would, for the first time, be legally compelled to be transparent in their supply chains for core ingredients including cocoa, soy, as well as palm oil.
But following repeated lobbying, the frameworks have already been weakened in the eyes of many industry observers, and will now only directly apply to the largest operators across the sector, with smaller businesses having a much less involvement in administration of the ambitious legislation.
In its open letter to the EU Commission, the collective stated that the signatories to its plea, which also included the Fairtrade advocacy office, Danone, and the Solidaridad organisation among others, asserted that significant measures had already been put in place across the supply chain, including national traceability frameworks, and urged that no further revisions be made to the agreed texts. The matter is due to be examined by the EU Commission in April.
A core aspect of concerns that had been put forward by some within the sector, centred on the perceived situation that many producing nations, including areas of Ghana and Ivory Coast in West Africa for the cocoa trade, were not themselves in a prepared position to deliver compliance with the new frameworks, given a number of factors including ongoing pricing volatility that has continued to cause major disruption.
Despite such issues, there has appeared a broad consensus for the need to implement the regulations addressing deforestation, which continues to be a prominent issue across industries, including cocoa production.
Christian Hohlfeld, public affairs lead DACH, for Rainforest Alliance, took to social media to assert that the time for full implementation for the EUDR regulations had arrived, without any additional delays.
He commented: “Many businesses, producer-country partners, and smallholder farmers – including farmers on Rainforest Alliance Certified farms – have already invested significant time and resources to prepare for compliance. Smallholders must not be left behind. Further reopening would create uncertainty, undermine trust, and risk slowing the momentum we urgently need to keep forests standing and supply chains resilient.
“Real implementation challenges should be addressed through clear guidance, practical FAQs, and targeted support for companies, producer countries, and smallholders – not by changing the rules once again.
:Rainforest Alliance strongly supports this call. We see in practice that when smallholder farmers are equipped and supply chain actors collaborate, EUDR compliance is feasible. Let’s keep the momentum and make implementation work – together.”
