"It’s official: EU deforestation law gets put on backburner," 15 November 2024

...The European Parliament voted 371-to-240 to postpone a watered-down version of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) by 12 months. The postponement included an amendment, introducing a “no risk” category of countries that export to the EU. This comes on top of existing risk categories of “low,” “standard” and “high.” 

The category a country falls into determines how much scrutiny its products receive by European regulators to determine if they contribute to deforestation. The amendment leaves it to the European Commission to determine what countries would be eligible for the “no-risk” designation. The Commission and European Council already recommended pushing back the law’s implementation by 12 months. 

Though it received cross-party support in the EP, the Greens called the amendment a “step backward”... Environmental organisations have also spoken out against the change...

The delay, which now all three of the EU’s policymaking bodies have agreed to, is meant to address concerns from international partners that said they felt unsupported in their preparations to comply with the regulation...

Not all businesses agree, however. Those that have been preparing to comply with the new rules may pay the price for any delay. Fediol, which represents vegetable oil and soybean-based producers, said their members have made "high-risk investments to be able to be ready by the date of application," and they will "inevitably suffer losses" due to postponement.