According to a diplomatic source, the worst has been averted and a halt has been called to the endless spiral of demands from certain Member States regarding the revision of the regulation to combat imported deforestation (EUDR), at the meeting of Member States’ ambassadors to the EU on Wednesday 19 November.
The proposal from the Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU, plus Germany’s requests (see EUROPE 13752/8), obtained a qualified majority for its negotiating mandate, without the support of Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain.
The Council of the EU is going to defend a one-year postponement of the entry into force of the EUDR, for all operators. The additional simplifications introduced by Germany amount to a reduction in the administrative burden for downstream operators, for micro and small operators covered by the simplified scheme and for mixed enterprises “slightly exceeding the threshold of a small operator”.
Should the Council of the EU be successful in its forthcoming negotiations with the European Parliament, downstream operators would have to collect and retain the reference numbers of the due diligence statements, but not communicate them along the downstream supply chain. Micro and small operators covered by the simplified scheme would only have to submit their simplified declaration once, and could limit their annual product quantity declaration to a single estimate.
On Wednesday, a blocking minority made up of France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium opposed the addition of Sweden’s proposal to remove all downstream traceability.
The Council of the EU is introducing a revision clause asking the European Commission to identify and evaluate other simplification measures by April 2026. France will not support a revision that would once again postpone the effective application of the regulation and render the text meaningless.
The European Parliament will adopt its position at the plenary session to be held from 24 to 27 November in Strasbourg (see EUROPE 13751/2). The EPP and right-wing groups in the European Parliament also consider the draft revision to be insufficient (see EUROPE 13750/25).
The co-legislators will be aiming for an agreement before the end of the year in order to prevent the regulation from coming into force on 30 December.
See the position of the Council of the EU: https://aeur.eu/f/jje (Original version in French by Florent Servia)