Brussels postpones deforestation law by one year

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 16 - The European Commission proposed on October 2 to delay by one year the implementation of the anti-deforestation regulation, which requires companies to carry out targeted checks to prevent them from placing products on the market that are in any way responsible for deforestation.
    With the postponement, if approved by the European Parliament and member states, the law would enter into force on December 30, 2025 for large companies and on June 30, 2026 for SMEs, instead of December 30, 2024 and June 30, 2025 respectively.
    It is not yet clear when the two co-legislators, the Parliament and the EU Council, will examine the proposal.
    In announcing its intention to proceed with the postponement, the European Commission assured that the extension would "in no way call into question the objectives or substance of the law," it wrote.
    "Given the innovative nature" of the law, "the rapid timetable and the variety of international stakeholders involved, the Commission believes that an additional 12-month period for the gradual introduction of the system is a balanced solution to support operators around the world in ensuring a smooth implementation from the start", reads a note from Brussels, which also highlights that "three months before the planned implementation date, several global partners have repeatedly expressed concerns about their state of readiness" to implement the rules, "most recently during the week of the United Nations General Assembly in New York".
    Strong pressure that von der Leyen has received first and foremost from her own political family of the European People's Party, which on several occasions in recent weeks had asked the European executive to postpone the crackdown on zero-deforestation products just three months before the start of the implementation of the law, justifying the request as the need to protect companies in the transition.
    The largest group in the European Parliament, the EPP, expressed satisfaction at the extension announced by the von der Leyen-led executive.
    "I am pleased that Ursula von der Leyen has followed my initiative to postpone" the implementation of the regulation on deforestation. Together with our farmers, we are protecting the environment and avoiding a bureaucratic monster", said EPP leader Manfred Weber in a comment via X.
    Defining the European Commission's desire to "protect operators as understandable" because we have always said that we cannot pass on the costs of the ecological transition to small producers, the president of the Envi commission, Antonio Decaro, underlines again that "the introduction of the regulation means starting off already defeated, even more so if the request for a 12-month extension is not accompanied by a package of incentives and indications that help streamline procedures and speed up the transition that would currently fall on producers".
    The rules strengthen EU controls on operators or traders who must be able to demonstrate that certain products placed on the EU market - including coffee, cocoa and palm oil - do not come from recently deforested land or have contributed in any way to forest degradation.
    The European Union is the second largest importer after China of commodities linked to tropical deforestation, such as soya, palm oil and beef.
    #IMCAP Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
    (ANSA).