Eleven EU Member States have called for a revision or postponement of the deforestation law on Monday.
Luxembourg and Austria spearheaded the initiative for the document, which was also endorsed by countries such as Italy. They argue that the requirements imposed on agriculture and forestry are excessively stringent, or even impractical to implement.
The document states that the measures are disproportionate to the regulation’s aim, which is primarily to combat deforestation where it genuinely occurs. It will be presented at the EU Agriculture Ministers’ council meeting in Brussels, but Belgium does not support the proposal.
Some EU Member States are advocating for creating a category for countries with zero risk of deforestation, allowing them exemptions from obligations and checks. Last week, the European Commission announced its classification of countries as high, standard, or low risk, determining the strictness of rules for companies in those nations.
All EU Member States, alongside the US, China, Australia, and Canada, have been labelled as low risk, while Belarus, Russia, North Korea, and Myanmar hold a high risk status.
The deforestation regulation, which prohibits importing numerous products from land deforested after early 2021, was initially set to come into force by late 2024. However, pressure from Member States such as Germany, international trade partners, and businesses led to its postponement until the end of 2025.
Under the regulation, companies importing commodities like cocoa, coffee, soy, palm oil, or wood must demonstrate traceability using geolocation data provided by farmers, along with satellite imagery.
The new rules have sparked protests from the agribusiness sector and various countries in Africa, Asia, and South America, who are concerned about increased costs for farmers and foresters.
The renewed call for revising the regulation comes amid the reassessment or scaling back of numerous environmental measures from the previous Von der Leyen Commission.
