MEPs on the European Parliament Committee on the Environment (ENVI) are calling for a binding legal framework to halt and reverse global deforestation caused by EU imports.
The own-initiative report by Delara Burkhardt (S&D, Germany) was adopted as amended on Thursday 1 October by a comfortable majority (45 votes in favour to 11 against, with 25 abstentions) (see EUROPE 12570/9).
MEPs pointed out that voluntary initiatives, third party certification and labels have so far failed to stop global deforestation.
They are therefore calling for an EU legal framework based on mandatory requirements for due diligence, information, disclosure and third party involvement.
A measure of this kind would benefit businesses as it would level the playing field by forcing competitors to meet the same standards.
Penalties would be imposed on companies that place products on the EU market that are derived from raw materials that threaten forests and ecosystems.
MEPs want all operators in the EU market to ensure that their products can be traced so that their origin can be identified and the rules enforced.
They want the legal framework to include high-carbon stock and biodiversity-rich ecosystems other than forests, such as marine and coastal ecosystems, wetlands, peatlands and savannahs.
MEPs want the EU’s trade and investment policy to include binding and enforceable chapters on sustainable development that comply fully with international commitments.
All of these elements would constitute a “fair and functional framework based on mandatory due diligence”, according to Burkhardt.
This is the first time that the parliamentary committee has made use of the option in the European Parliament treaty to ask the Commission to present binding legislation.
Parliament will vote on the draft resolution at its plenary session on 19-22 October. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)