This weekend’s FT writes: “The EU plans to postpone strict monitoring of imports from deforestation-prone areas.” The EU plans to dilute its incoming deforestation regulation (EUDR) by temporarily designating all export countries with the same standard risk classification. The change comes after governments in Asia, Latin America and Africa complained about a need for clearer guidance on compliance, but experts warn implementation delays could cause more confusion.
The EUDR will come into force in December 2024 and require businesses to provide a “due diligence” statement supported by geolocation data to confirm their products have not come from deforested land. The regulation impacts various supply chains, including soybeans, cocoa, coffee, palm oil and beef, and will be reviewed in June 2028.
EU officials want to give countries and companies more time to comply with the new rules by postponing the traffic light system, which would have seen countries classified as “high,” “medium,” or “low” risk based on their anti-deforestation performance.
Despite this delay, EUDR implementation remains due by December this year. And it appears this delay in risk classification could also drag low-risk countries into ‘standard’ risk with the 3% of imports subject to scrutiny rather than the proposed 1%.
According to EU officials, Brussels intends to delay the classification of countries into low, standard, or high risk categories, originally scheduled for implementation by December. Instead, every country will be designated as standard risk, providing more time for adaptation to the anti-deforestation regulation.
This decision comes after numerous complaints from partner countries. The delay aims to ensure fairness by preventing any country from gaining an advantage over another.
Source: Financial Times, March 7, 2024
