At a meeting of the Committee on Agriculture of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Wednesday 25 September, the European Union announced that, “it would not postpone the application of the EU’s controversial regulation on deforestation”, scheduled for 30 December 2024, according to a source in Geneva.
Protests from the main agricultural exporting countries, including Brazil, India, Indonesia and the United States, have had no impact. “Any postponement would require a legislative amendment”, the EU justified, adding that “this would not achieve [its] objective of providing legal predictability to operators as soon as possible”.
The Commission has once again given assurances that all the elements needed to implement the regulation will be ready on time, including the assessment methodology, which is currently being developed. This should improve the application of the regulation by focusing it on high-risk areas (which will be more strictly controlled).
However, good forest management cannot mean a total exemption from the basic requirements, which, according to the Commission, “would make it too easy to circumvent” in supply chains that can prove complex.
Copa Cogeca and some thirty European organisations are calling for a postponement of the regulation
After the German Minister for Agriculture on Monday 23 September (see EUROPE 13489/15), it was the turn of some 30 European organisations to ask the Commission, in a press release on Wednesday 25 September, to postpone the regulation.
The regulation would have “serious negative economic consequences” if applied in “less than 100 days”. In addition to postponement, these organisations want to reopen the text, which they blame for causing a disproportionate administrative burden. (Original version in French by Florent Servia with Léa Marchal)