Environmental protection
The EU Commission wants to weaken the planned forest protection law
The EU Commission wants to weaken the so-called deforestation regulation and postpone it again. It should have been used a long time ago.
The EU Commission is proposing a weakening of the so-called deforestation regulation. Among other things, the law is intended to make deforestation of the Amazon and other forests more difficult. According to the proposal, retailers and downstream companies in the supply chain will no longer have to submit digital due diligence declarations in the future. Only the first person to place a product on the EU market would be obliged to do so.
The regulation should actually be applied from the end of 2024 and initially require large companies to prove the deforestation-free origin of certain products such as coffee, cocoa, soy or beef. The rules have already been postponed once by a year.
Another postponement planned
In addition to changing the plan, the Commission wants to postpone the enforcement of the rules for large and medium-sized companies by six months. There will be a delay of twelve months for micro and small businesses.
The Commission also proposes to simplify reporting requirements. Micro and small businesses from low-risk countries would therefore only have to submit a one-off, simple declaration. If the relevant information is already available in a national database, operators do not have to submit it again.
Big criticism from the economy
There is great criticism of the deforestation regulation, especially from the forestry industry. She fears great burdens from bureaucratic requirements. Environmental associations, on the other hand, vehemently criticize any weakening of the project and assume that this will be at the expense of ecosystems.
The European Parliament and the EU states must now discuss the Commission’s proposals. In order for changes to come into force in a timely manner, both institutions must agree on a compromise by the end of the year.
dpa
Source: Stern
