Green Deal slows, Commission proposes one-year postponement for anti-deforestation rules

BRUSSELS - Taking note of pressure from many countries, the European Commission has proposed extending the timeframe for the gradual entry into force of a controversial measure dedicated to combating deforestation in third countries. According to the proposal, the regulation - an important part of the Green Pact - should come fully into force not at the end of this year, but at the end of 2025 for large companies and at the end of 2026 for smaller companies.

"The European Commission recognises that, with three months to go before the planned implementation date, several partners worldwide have repeatedly expressed concerns about their state of preparedness, most recently during the UN General Assembly week in New York," a communiqué issued by the EU executive read. "Moreover, the state of preparedness of stakeholders in Europe is also uneven.

The text will prohibit the Twenty-Seven from importing products such as cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, leather and beef from third countries if they come from deforested land. For some time, member states such as Germany, Austria, Finland, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden had been pushing for a postponement of the entry into force. Pressure had also come from the United States and Brazil.

According to the text, importing companies, responsible for their supply chain, will have to prove the traceability of products, using geo-localisation data. The proposal presented yesterday will now have to be approved by the Council and Parliament. According to the WWF, the EU is responsible for 16% of global deforestation, due to its imports (mainly soya and palm oil, 2017 figures) and is the second largest destroyer of tropical forests after China.