At the EU ‘Agriculture’ Council meeting in Brussels on Tuesday 26 March, Austria, supported by several other countries (France, Finland, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, etc.), called for a targeted revision of the regulation on tackling deforestation.
“The agreed overall objective of tackling deforestation in third countries must not be to the detriment of the European economy, in particular the European agriculture and forestry sector”, says Austria in a document (see EUROPE 13212/30).
David Clarinval, President-in-Office of the EU ‘Agriculture’ Council, acknowledged the challenges posed by the regulation in question. Some ministers have expressed concerns about the administrative burden and difficulties in implementing the regulation. We invited the Commission to look into ways of mitigating any undesirable effects.
Concerned about the excessive administrative burden that the regulation places on its organic and forestry farms, Austria has called for a “targeted and immediate revision” of the text, adopted in 2023. In its opinion, the implementation of the main provisions should be postponed (the planned date is 30 December 2024) and a “general derogation” should be granted to States whose forest area has not decreased in recent decades. “We are now urging the Commission to temporarily suspend the regulation so that it can be realistically implemented”, said Norbert Totschnig, the Austrian Minister for Agriculture. The text, which aims to exclude products derived from deforestation from the European market, applies in particular to cattle farms.
The EU regulation aims to significantly reduce the European Union’s contribution to global deforestation and forest degradation. It imposes a mandatory duty of due diligence throughout the supply chain (see EUROPE 13183/17). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)