The European Commission (EC) has proposed delaying the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) by 12 months following lobbying by companies and governments around the world.
Originally due to take effect on 30 December this year, the law will ban the sale in the EU of seven commodities linked to deforestation - palm oil, soyabean, timber, rubber, coffee, cocoa and cattle.
The delay must be approved by EU ministers and the European parliament to take effect.
If approved, the law would come into force on 30 December 2025 for large companies and 30 June 2026 for micro and small enterprises.
In a statement on its website on 2 October, the EC said the extra 12 months could serve as a phasing-in period to ensure proper and effective implementation.
“The Commission recognises that three months ahead of the intended implementation date, several global partners have repeatedly expressed concerns about their state of preparedness,” the statement said.
“The state of preparations amongst stakeholders in Europe is also uneven. While many expect to be ready in time, thanks to intensive preparations, others have expressed concerns.”
The EC added that extension proposal did not change the objectives or the substance of the law, as agreed by EU co-legislators.
Welcoming the proposed delay, Germany’s Union for the Promotion of Plants and Protein (UFOP) said on 4 October: “The agricultural sector needs this time corridor in order to be able to adapt to the additional obligations to provide evidence.”
However, EU vegetable oils and protein meal industry association FEDIOL said companies in its sector had made high-risk investments to be compliant by 30 December.
“As a result of the likely postponement of the date of application, those companies will inevitably suffer losses in their investments.”
Although welcoming the proposed delay to the legislation’s implementation, top global palm oil producer and exporter Indonesia said it was more concerned by implementation regulations than its time frame, The Star reported on 3 October.
Indonesian coordinating minister of the economy Airlangga Hartarto was reported as telling Reuters that the EU should cancel its country benchmarking on deforestation, in which nations would be classified as high, standard or low risk in terms of compliance.
Indonesia had lobbied against the EUDR, claiming it would impact smallholders and discriminate against its palm oil industry.
“It's not about the delay but the implementing regulations,” Airlangga was quoted as saying, adding that any postponement would ideally be for two years, not 12 months.
Indonesian palm oil association GAPKI also welcome the proposed postponement, saying it would give the industry more time to prepare, The Star wrote.
Malaysia, the world’s second biggest producer of palm oil after Indonesia, had also strongly opposed the EU policy, the report said.
On 3 October, the Malaysia Palm Oil Council called the move a sensible decision that would allow global supply chains to comply.
Meanwhile, a former top environment official was quoted as saying in an article by The Guardian on 3 October that the proposed delay of the deforestation law was “a step backward in the fight against climate change”.
According to Virginijus Sinkevičius, a Lithuanian MEP who was the environment commissioner until mid-July and who drafted the legislation that was agreed in 2023, the 12-month delay would put 32,000ha of forest at risk each day, fuel 15% of global carbon emissions, break trust with the EU’s global partners and damage its credibility on its climate commitments.
At the same time as announcing the proposed delay, the EC published additional guidance to help ensure uniform interpretation of the law.
Divided into 11 chapters, the guidance covers a range of issues such as legality requirements, the time frame of application, agricultural use and clarifications on the product scope.
The EC also published the principles of the methodology it would apply to the EUDR benchmarking exercise, serving to classify countries as low, standard or high risk, aiming to facilitate operators’ due diligence processes and enable competent authorities to effectively monitor and enforce compliance.
“Following the methodology applied, a large majority of countries worldwide will be classified as ‘low risk’. This will give the opportunity to focus collective efforts where deforestation challenges are more acute,” the EC said.
In addition, in a bid to ensure smooth implementation worldwide, the EC said it would present – in conjunction with the European External Action Service – a strategic framework for international co-operation engagement on the EUDR.
It said it had identified five priority areas of action such as support to smallholders, eight key principles such as a human rights-centred approach and several implementation tools including dialogue and financing.
The information system where businesses would register their due diligence statements would be ready to start accepting registrations in early November, the EC said.
Operators and traders would be able to register and submit due diligence statements even before the law’s entry into application, it added.
