BRUSSELS, Belgium – MILAN – Yesterday, Wednesday 16 October, the Council gave its long-awaited green light to the proposal for a one-year postponement of the implementation of the EU deforestation regulation (Eudr), put forward by the European Commission on 2 October. The ball is now in Parliament’s court, which in turn will have to approve the postponement. The vote is scheduled for the plenary session of 13 and 14 November.
If agreed by the European Parliament, the obligations stemming from this regulation will be binding from:
- 30 December 2025, for large operators and traders
- 30 June 2026, for micro- and small enterprises
“This postponement will allow third countries, member states, operators and traders to be fully prepared in their due diligence obligations, which is to ensure that certain commodities and products sold in the EU or exported from the EU are deforestation-free” said the Council in a statement. “This includes products made from cattle, wood, cocoa, soy, palm oil, coffee, rubber, and some of their derived products.”
The coordinators of the political groups in the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) committee of the European Parliament agreed on October 14 to use the urgency procedure without a committee stage, according to article 170 of the European Parliament internal regulation, to speed up the approval process.
During the ENVI committee on 14 October, members of parliament (MEPs) from the European People’s Party (EPP), the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and Renew Europe clearly expressed their intention to vote in favor of the proposal to postpone the implementation date of the EUDR.
The three parties together account for 401 seats out of the total 720 seats of the European Parliament.
