EU – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has become the latest leader to call for the delay in the implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
The German leader’s comments add to criticism of the law voiced by countries like Brazil, Indonesia and Malaysia, who argue that it will have a negative impact across global commodities markets.
“To be clear: the regulation must be practicable,” Scholz said, adding that he had personally asked European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a former German defence minister, to put the EUDR on hold until issues raised by the BDZV newspaper have been clarified.
Similarly, the head of environment policy for the centre-right European People’s Party, which emerged victorious in recent EU elections, wants a two-year delay to market restrictions aimed at discouraging deforestation outside the EU.
Peter Liese, an MEP since 1994 and freshly re-elected, cited to Euronews today that the international pressure to withdraw or delay the legislation, in particular reports of a letter from senior US trade and agriculture officials in Washington warning Commission vice-president and Green Deal director Maroš Šefčovič of “significant negative economic effects on both producers and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic” when the law kicks in.
The letter, dated 30 May and seen by Euronews, identifies “four critical challenges for US producers to understand and comply” with the new rules.
This is due to the absence of an information system, a lack of guidance from the EU executive, the failure to designate competent national authorities to police the regime, and the interim classification of all source countries as ‘standard risk’ regardless of their forestry practices.
Meanwhile, Austrian agriculture minister Norbert Totschnig claimed in March that 20 of his EU peers had agreed the deforestation law would “negatively affect sustainable and small-scale agricultural and forestry practices in the European Union” and supported a call for “urgent action” to exempt the smallest farmers – in addition to delaying implementation.
The International Trade Centre, a UN-backed body, said the law could cut out small producers from developing countries, who lack the technology to verify that their goods have not been grown on deforested land, from the supply chain.
The regulation demands that customs authorities must check 9 per cent of products coming from countries at “high risk” of deforestation and 3 per cent from “standard risk” countries.
Due to the pressure from producer countries, the EU commission has agreed that all countries will be categorized as “standard risk” in the first instance.
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