The negotiators of the Parliament and the Council reached, on Thursday 4 December, a provisional political agreement providing for a one-year postponement of the implementation of the regulation aimed at combating imported deforestation (EUROPE 13760/1).
They removed the “grace period” initially proposed by the European Commission for large and medium-sized companies, opting instead for a clear postponement of the application date for all operators until 30 December 2026, with an additional six-month period for micro and small enterprises.
The obligation and responsibility to submit the required due-diligence statement will rest exclusively with the operators who place the relevant product on the market for the first time. Only the first downstream operator in the supply chain will be responsible for collecting and retaining the reference number of the initial statement, without having to pass it further down the chain. The two institutions also agreed to require competent authorities to notify the Commission of significant disruptions to the IT system.
The co-legislators decided to exclude certain printed products (books, newspapers, printed images) from the scope of the regulation.
Details: https://aeur.eu/f/juj (Lionel Changeur)