In an open letter dated Wednesday 7 September, the European timber industry and the trade association representing the private tropical forest sector (ATIBT) expressed concern that due diligence requirements in the proposed regulation on combating imported deforestation in the EU would be impractical for small operators.
Ahead of the European Parliament vote, scheduled for 13 September, the timber industry is calling on EU policymakers to “refrain from introducing new legal or technological requirements that have not been adequately assessed from an economic, scientific and feasibility point of view”.
At issue is the introduction of a mandatory geolocation requirement which was proposed without a proper impact assessment and without consulting forestry experts on the development of the methodology and its feasibility, according to the letter.
“Collecting geolocation data from small forest owners involves significant technical, logistical, legal and governance challenges that are beyond the capacity of the responsible stakeholders”, the signatories write.
They advocate a multi-stakeholder approach involving local governments, local industry players, EU operators, the Commission and NGOs. The timber industry warns that otherwise, “operators will not be able to collect reliable geolocation information to trace the plot land information of the majority of smallholders currently in their supply chains”.
Read the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/2z6 (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)