On Wednesday 2 October, the European Commission finally bowed to pressure and proposed a one-year postponement of the implementation of the deforestation regulation. Several members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other interested parties, such as the United States (see EUROPE 13417/6), Eurocommerce (see EUROPE 13461/6), Latin American countries (see EUROPE 13467/6), Germany (see EUROPE 13489/15), Austria (see EUROPE 13404/5) and the European People’s Party (see EUROPE 13441/20) who were pushing for this postponement got what they wanted.
Initially scheduled for 31 December 2024 for large companies and 30 June 2025 for micro and small companies, the regulation will now apply on 30 December 2025 and 30 June 2026, if and only if the Commission’s proposal for a postponement is approved by the European Parliament and the Council.
The tools are ready. The Commission has complied, but points out in its press release that “all the implementation tools are technically ready”, believing that these additional 12 months can serve as a “phasing-in period”. The institution gave in, “given the innovative nature [of the regulation], the rapid timetable and the diversity of the international stakeholders involved”. Neither the objectives nor “the substance of the legislation” are called into question in this decision, the European Commission said.
The IT system will be ready by early November, enabling operators and merchants to submit their due diligence declarations “even before the legislation comes into force”.
More support for stakeholders. In terms of improvements, the Commission published additional guidelines on Wednesday 2 October. They provide details on the information system and traceability obligations, as well as updates on penalties and clarifications on definitions (“forest degradation”). More than 40 new answers have been added to the latest FAQ, also published on Wednesday 2 October.
The European Commission has given assurances that the majority of countries in the world will be classified as “low risk”. The methodology it will use to classify countries as presenting a low, standard or high risk of deforestation has also been published.
An “overly bureaucratic” regulation? The postponement was the “only measure that was necessary at this stage”, said Christine Schneider MEP (EPP, German). She pointed out that implementation was too complicated and thanked Ursula von der Leyen “for having put this postponement in place”. The EPP’s environment coordinator, German MEP Peter Liese, also welcomes the postponement, having worked for it in recent months, and points out that “small farmers, for example in Latin America, need much more support”.
Meanwhile, deforestation continues. “The delay puts 80,000 hectares of forest at risk every day, fuels 15% of global carbon emissions, breaks trust with our global partners and damages our credibility on climate commitments”, lamented Virginijus Sinkevičius on X. Now a member of the Greens/EFA group, the Lithuanian MEP accompanied the text right up to its formal adoption when he was European Commissioner for the Environment.
As well as regretting the decision to postpone, Pascal Canfin MEP (Renew Europe, French), former chair of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee, hopes “that the EPP will stick to what it has asked for and obtained and not ally itself with the far right to go further”. If the postponement were to be approved by the Council and Parliament, the parties involved would have “no excuse”.
Anna Cavazzini (Greens/EFA, German) and Bernd Lange (S&D, German) openly criticised the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, for withholding key policy documents for months, thereby fuelling uncertainty about the actual date of implementation. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)