Commission adopts new proposal to stop deforestation

On 17 November, The European Commission presented its proposal to introduce mandatory due diligence for products sold on the EU market to make sure they are not linked to deforestation or forest degradation. The proposed law sets mandatory due diligence rules for six commodities: coffee, cocoa, cattle, palm oil, soy and wood. These rules would also apply to derived products.

The legislative proposal was discussed during the latest Multi-Stakeholder Platform on Protecting and Restoring the World’s Forests meeting held on 23 November 2021. The first session of the meeting was for all members of the platform, including EU Member State representatives. During the Q&A session that followed the presentation of the proposed regulation, the Commission clarified several issues related to definitions, the scope of the proposal, the role of certification, and the specific obligations for different actors.

In the second session, accessible only to Member State representatives, Member States suggested including the presumption of illegality to put the burden of proof on the operator and traders instead of on the MS Competent Authorities, an optional supervision fee for Member States to enhance efficiency as well as traceability obligations for supply chain actors doing contract processing.

The proposal will be also discussed at the CDG Forestry and Cork meeting, scheduled for 14 January 2022.

NEXT STEPS

Following its adoption on 17 November 2021, the proposal for a Regulation was sent to the European Parliament and the Council.

European Parliament

The European Parliament’s Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) Committee has nominated MEP Christophe Hansen (EPP) as the Rapporteur responsible for preparing the draft report, which will contain amendments to the proposal. The draft report will then be discussed by the Committee, following which MEPs may submit amendments to the report. The Committee will subsequently vote on the draft report and amendments with a view to adopt the Parliament’s negotiating position during a plenary session. The shadow rapporteurs on this file are Delara  Burkhardt (S&D) and Nils Torvalds (Renew).

Council 

The Environment Council is scheduled to meet on 20 December 2021. Council experts are also expected to meet over the coming months and examine the proposal, in order to prepare the Council’s internal position (General Approach).

Once both the European Parliament Committee and the Council have finalized their position on the proposal, informal negotiations to reach a first reading agreement on the proposal are then expected to begin.

Any resulting compromise will need to be approved by the European Parliament and by the Council.

 

EUSTAFOR will continue to follow these developments and inform its membership about the next steps. All relevant documents related to this topic, including EUSTAFOR’s previous contributions, are available at EUSTAFOR Intranet.