At the Council of European energy ministers in Brussels on Thursday 30 May, the German, French and Dutch delegations, supported by the Austrian delegation, presented a non-paper calling for measures to prevent biofuel fraud.
Since 2023, imports into Europe of biofuels produced from animal fats and used cooking oils from Asia have increased massively.
“France, Germany and the Netherlands would like to call on the European Commission to intensify the ongoing investigation, identifying weaknesses in the existing governance system and develop in cooperation with Member States strong corrective actions to prevent the entry of fraudulent biofuels on the European market”, according to the document, seen by Agence Europe (see EUROPE 13420/1).
“It is crucial to strengthen the controls on production units wherever they are located in the world. We propose that the certification of the sustainability of biofuels produced in these units will be rejected in case of refusal of access to the premises, of any nature, to the inspecting entities of the competent authorities of the Member States”, they continue.
The Farm Europe think tank hopes that the Commission will suspend imports from third countries suspected of fraud (safeguard measures) in order to “neutralise the massive quantities that are generating unfair competition, in particular from China”.
Farm Europe is also calling for certification mechanisms to be strengthened and physical inspections to be made more widespread. Finally, the think tank suggests the creation of a “powerful environmental control agency” to combat fraud. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)