European Commission says changes aim to provide greater legal certainty ahead of rules taking effect.

The European Commission has excluded products such as leather, retreaded tires and soybeans for sowing from the list of products covered by the European Union’s anti-deforestation law, while adding others, including instant coffee and certain soybean oil derivatives.

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Specifically, Brussels has adopted a regulation updating and simplifying the list of products covered by the law, as well as measures governing the submission of declarations by companies subject to the regulation, with the aim of “providing greater legal certainty” ahead of its future implementation.

Some of the measures were already outlined in the legislative simplification package that the European Commission presented in early May. Before taking effect, the changes will be reviewed by the European Parliament and EU member states and will enter into force if no objections are raised.

As a result, leather, bovine hides and skins, retreaded tires, soybeans for sowing, vulcanized rubber articles, conveyor and transmission belts, and seats for aircraft and motor vehicles have been excluded from the scope of the regulation.

At the same time, the list has been expanded to include products such as instant coffee, certain palm oil derivatives and frozen bovine tongues. Brussels clarified, however, that the update “does not alter the list of commodities” covered by the law but instead updates the list of products derived from those commodities.

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“With this package, we are providing the clarity and predictability that businesses, member states and our international partners need to prepare for the implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation at the end of 2026,” Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall said.

The regulation on imported deforestation seeks to prevent European consumption, which accounts for 10% of global deforestation, from continuing to contribute to forest destruction in third countries as well as within the European Union, since the rules apply equally across the bloc’s internal market.

To that end, it requires companies placing cocoa, coffee, soybeans, palm oil, timber, rubber or cattle on the EU market to demonstrate, through traceability and geolocation systems, that those products do not originate from deforested or degraded land.

Since its adoption, however, the regulation has faced criticism from businesses and producing countries — including Brazil, Paraguay, the United States, Malaysia and Indonesia — which have warned about its complexity and compliance costs. Politically, it has also been criticized by far-right and center-right parties.

As a result, Brussels has already introduced a series of flexibilities, including postponing the regulation’s application until December 2026 for large companies and June 2027 for small companies, as well as simplifying compliance obligations for micro and small primary operators.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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