On Thursday 22 May, the European Commission classified four third countries - Belarus, Myanmar, North Korea and Russia - as high-risk countries for the production of certain agricultural products (livestock, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soya and wood) linked to forest degradation, based on Regulation (2023/1115) aimed at combating ‘imported deforestation’ (see EUROPE 13640/13).
These four countries have been placed in this category because they are subject to sanctions imposed by the United Nations or the Council of the European Union on the import or export of raw materials falling within the scope of the European regulation.
Over 130 countries, including EU Member States, Canada, the United States, India and Australia, have been included in the low-risk category. Others, such as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Mexico are identified as posing standard levels of risk.
Compliance checks by competent authorities in Member States are determined by the risk classification assigned to the country of origin. These checks include 1% of imports from a low-risk country, 3% of imports from a country presenting a normal risk and 9% of imports from a high-risk country.
To compile its list, the Commission used the most recent FAO data, dating back to 2020, which analysed the following criteria: the deforestation rate, the rate of expansion of agricultural land for the products concerned and production trends for the products concerned. In a press release, the EU institution said that it would review the list in 2026 based on updated FAO data expected in October 2025.
The regulation to combat deforestation will apply from the end of 2025 for large companies and from the end of June 2026 for SMEs.
“The benchmarking system unfortunately falls short of what the science requires, with countries like Brazil and Paraguay not categorised as ‘high risk’, despite the deforestation crisis consuming climate-critical forests like the Amazon and Gran Chaco”, Giulia Bondi explained in a press release, on behalf of the organisation Global Witness. Nevertheless, she noted that the regulation will still require companies importing the products concerned from countries with a low or standard risk profile to “prove that their supply chains are free from deforestation and human rights abuses”.
Read the Commission’s implementing regulation, its annex and the methodology used to establish the classification: https://aeur.eu/f/gze (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)