On Friday 13 September, Germany called on the EU to postpone the entry into force of the regulation on imported deforestation until 1 July 2025, 6 months after the currently scheduled date. On Friday 13 September, according to AFP, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed concern about the ability of companies to apply the legislation. He even asked the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to suspend the regulation “until the issues raised have been clarified”.
As a reminder, the text provides for a ban from 2025 on imports into the EU of products (palm oil, beef, soya, coffee, etc.) the production of which has contributed to forest degradation.
Importers will have to be able to prove, using geolocation data supplied by farmers combined with satellite photos, that their products do not come from deforested land.
Many detractors. In addition to Germany and Brazil earlier this week, there have been a number of calls in recent months urging the Commission to postpone the implementation of the text, scheduled for 30 December 2024. The requests come from, among others, the World Trade Organization (see EUROPE 13417/6),EuroCommerce (see EUROPE 13461/6), the European People’s Party (see EUROPE 13441/20), the United States and the six South American countries of the Southern Agricultural Council (see EUROPE 13467/6).
They all agree that there is not enough time to prepare for legislation on this scale. EuroCommerce, a representative of the retail and wholesale sector, points out that many sectors are affected by the regulation on imported deforestation: cocoa, coffee, soya, palm oil, timber, beef, rubber, etc.
As well as European importers, exporters will be the first to be penalised by the application of a regulation that the six countries of the Southern Agricultural Council - Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay - see as “an obstacle to access to the European market”. Interviewed by Agence Europe, Brazil’s ambassador to the European Union, Pedro Miguel da Costa e Silva, said in late August that “the EU is not sufficiently prepared to apply” its regulation.
The EU is thought not to be ready. A number of criticisms and requests for clarification have been made in recent months: about the system for labelling the origin of products, about the heavy administrative burden that the regulation will entail, and about the classification of countries into three different categories (high, medium and low) according to the risk of deforestation. The EU has announced that this differentiation will not be applied initially, and that all countries will be considered to be at standard risk. But this decision, according to Austria, would lead to disproportionate controls for countries that are actually low-risk. Under these conditions, according to EuroCommerce, “at least another 6 months” will be required, once the IT tools for data entry are ready.
The players in the sector had been given time. “The European Commission has continuously updated its FAQs to answer all possible questions on the implementation of the regulation”, Virginijus Sinkevičius has assured Agence Europe. “There is no reason to postpone”, he insisted. The former European Commissioner for the Environment, who became an MEP in June, knows what he is talking about, having followed this legislation through from its infancy to its adoption in March 2023.
In response to all these calls, Mr Sinkevičius points out that all the stakeholders have been given “at least 4 years” to prepare. Interviewed by Agence Europe, the now MEP insists: “It took almost 2 years from final adoption to implementation”.
Is the regulation “a unilateral decision that takes no account of the national legislation of third countries or local realities”, as denounced by the Southern Agricultural Council (SAC)? Virginijus Sinkevičius who “strongly disagrees” reminded Agence Europe that he had “met the WTO and travelled to many countries” when he was Commissioner. In particular, he lists the numerous commitments made in New York and Glasgow at the COP, “where 149 nations, accounting for more than 90% of the world’s forests, pledged to step up their efforts to conserve forests and halt deforestation”.
To postpone would be unfair to the good students and would not send out the right message, according to the former Commissioner, who adds that, on the other hand, “many partners have taken action and introduced traceability”. As for the environmental challenge, which is at the heart of this legislation, this would mean, in his view, “another year of increased global forest losses”, while the EU must now “ensure that it does not contribute to the problem”.
Deforestation will not wait. “The Amazon is experiencing the worst fires in decades, proving that we are at the heart of the climate and biodiversity crisis. We need European legislation on deforestation to take effect quickly”, agreed Anna Cavazzini (Greens/EFA, German). Delaying it would have harmful consequences for the environment. Especially since, according to the MEP, “opening up the law in order to delay its implementation” would be tantamount to “opening Pandora’s box”.
Contacted by Agence Europe, the co-rapporteur on the legislation pointed out that “clear deadlines have been set in the legislation” and called on “the European Commission to do its job and complete the calibration and information system on time”.
Despite the pressure, the European Commission stated on 22 August that “the entry into force of the text decided by the co-legislators is what it is, and the Commission will do everything to ensure that everything is in place in good time”. Will it be able to cope with the growing number of requests? At the time of going to press on 13 September, the institution had not had time to respond to the questions sent by Agence Europe on 6 September. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)