European Council offers backing to EU Commission’s EUDR plans, rejecting any further amendments
EU flags waving in front of European Parliament building. Brussels, Belgium
The European Council has moved to offer key support to the EU Commission’s proposals for implementing its flagship EUDR environmental laws – with near universal backing for the plans, rejecting the EPP Party’s controversial amendments seeking to enable ‘no risk’ countries, writes Neill Barston.
While the administrative body is not responsible for decision making it itself, it nevertheless serves as a key driver in determining policymaking across the continent, and it has stood firmly behind the plans put forward for the major legislation that is set to impact major supply chain commodities of cocoa, palm, as well as soy markets.
As the council noted noted, it ‘firmly reiterated its support to the proposed targeted amendment of the EU deforestation regulation,’ which involves postponing its date of application by 12 months. The Council considers that this is the best way forward to ensure legal certainty for all stakeholders. It should be recalled that the proposal of the Commission needs to be adopted, signed and published in the Official Journal before 30 December 2024.
This comes in stark contrast to the amendments proposed by the EPP – which had called for the ability to declare ‘no risk’ deforestation countries under the new legislation – which many environmental groups, cocoa and confectionery industry leaders have expressed concern would considerably weaken the legislation as it was originally envisaged.
Notably, as it issued its backing for the EU Commission’s plans surrounding the legislation, this will now have to go back to ‘a trilogue’ discussion with the EU Commission and EU Parliament in the next month over whether the frameworks will in fact proceed.
In a statement, the European Council said: “This postponement will allow third countries, member states, operators and traders to be fully prepared in their due diligence obligations, which is to ensure that certain commodities and products sold in the EU or exported from the EU are deforestation-free. This includes products made from cattle, wood, cocoa, soy, palm oil, coffee, rubber, and some of their derived products.
“The deforestation regulation has already been in force since 29 June 2023 and its provisions are to be applied from 30 December 2024. The Council agreed to the Commission’s proposal to postpone the application date of the regulation by one year.
|This would give legal certainty, predictability and sufficient time for a smooth and effective implementation of the rules, including fully establishing due diligence systems covering all relevant commodities and products. These due diligence systems include identifying deforestation risks in supply chains as well as monitoring and reporting measures to prove compliance with EU rules.”
As the European Council noted, the targeted amendment will not affect the substance of the already existing rules, which is to minimise the EU’s contribution to deforestation and forest degradation worldwide, by only allowing placing on the EU market, or exporting from the EU, deforestation-free products. Deforestation-free products are products that have been produced on land not subject to deforestation or forest degradation after 31 December 2020.
Next steps
The Council will now inform the European Parliament of this position with a view to start negotiations. The aim is to have the regulation formally adopted by both co-legislators and published in the Official Journal of the EU so that it can enter into force by the end of the year.
Furthermore, as the body noted, the main driver of global deforestation and forest degradation is the expansion of agricultural land, which is linked to the production of the commodities included in the scope of the regulation. As the EU is a major consumer of such commodities, it can reduce its contribution to global deforestation and forest degradation by making sure these products and related supply chains are ‘deforestation-free’.
The deforestation regulation was adopted in 2023 and establishes rules to ensure that products derived from certain commodities (namely coffee, cocoa, palm oil, soya, cattle, rubber and wood), which are placed on the EU market or exported from the EU, have not caused deforestation or forest degradation during their production, have been produced in accordance with the relevant legislation of the country of production and are covered by a due diligence statement.
The Commission submitted its proposal on postponing the application date of the deforestation regulation in response to concerns raised by member states, third countries, traders and operators that there was a risk that they would not be able to fully comply with the rules by 31 December 2024.
