On Tuesday evening, negotiators from the Parliament and Council reached a provisional political agreement to postpone the application of the new rules. Large operators and traders will now have to respect the obligations of this regulation as of 30 December 2025, and micro- and small enterprises from 30 June 2026. This additional time is intended to help companies around the world implement the rules more smoothly from the beginning, without undermining the objectives of the law.
The Commission proposed postponing the application date of the deforestation regulation by one year in response to concerns raised by EU member states, non-EU countries, traders and operators that they would not be able to fully comply with the rules if applied from the end of 2024.
Following requests from Parliament, the Commission committed to ensure that both the Information System and proposal for the risk classification are available as soon as possible but not later than six months before the Regulation enters into application. In the context of the general review of the Regulation expected no later than 30 June 2028, the Commission will analyse additional measures to simplify and reduce administrative burden.
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After the deal, Parliament’s rapporteur Christine Schneider (EPP, DE) said: “We promised and we have delivered. This postponement means businesses, foresters, farmers and authorities will have an additional year to prepare. We ensured the Commission will complete the online platform and the risk categorisation in six months, ensuring more predictability across the supply chain. An impact assessment and further simplification is to follow in the review stage for the low risk countries or regions providing countries with an incentive to improve their forest conservation practices.
We would have preferred to see several issues directly enshrined in the law, but the Council refused. It is now up to the Commission to deliver on its commitments. We MEPs will closely monitor this process, in particular efforts towards reducing bureaucracy.”
Next steps
The vote on the informal agreement between the colegislators will be added to the agenda of Parliament’s next plenary session (16-19 December). In order for the postponement to enter into force, the agreed text has to be endorsed by both Parliament and Council and published in the EU Official Journal before the end of the year.
Background
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 420 million hectares of forest — an area larger than the EU — were lost to deforestation between 1990 and 2020. EU consumption represents around 10% of global deforestation. Palm oil and soya account for more than two-thirds of this.
The deforestation regulation, adopted by Parliament on 19 April 2023, aims to fight climate change and biodiversity loss by preventing the deforestation related to EU consumption of products from cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm-oil, soya, wood, rubber, charcoal and printed paper. Already in force since 29 June 2023, its provisions were to be applied by companies from 30 December 2024.
Ref.: 20241121IPR25541
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