The EU Deforestation Regulation stipulates that various goods placed on the EU market do not contribute to deforestation and forest degradation in the EU and elsewhere in the world. (Photo: © kalinavova/123RF.com)
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1 October 2024
Starting December 30 of this year, the provisions of the EU Deforestation Regulation are to become binding in the member states. The ZDB is calling for a two-year postponement and an amendment to the law.
The EU Deforestation Regulation has been in effect since June 30th of last year . It stipulates that various goods placed on the EU market must not contribute to deforestation and forest degradation in the EU or elsewhere in the world . Companies are therefore subject to due diligence obligations to ensure deforestation-free supply chains for their products. After an 18-month transition period, the rules will apply from December 30th, 2024. Small businesses have a 24-month transition period.
The new obligations apply to the import and export of palm oil, beef, soy, coffee, cocoa, timber, rubber , and products made from these materials, such as furniture or chocolate . Companies must prove that the products are both deforestation-free, meaning they were produced on land that was not deforested after December 31, 2020 , and that they comply with all applicable laws in the country of origin.
Criticism from the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts ( ZDH) : The ZDH also criticizes the deforestation regulation and calls for improvements. Furthermore, there is an obligation to collect geographical information about the agricultural land on which the products they source were produced, so that compliance with the regulations can be verified. Member states must then ensure that non-compliance leads to, according to the EU Commission, " effective and dissuasive sanctions ." The list of recorded raw materials is to be regularly reviewed and updated , taking into account new data such as changing deforestation patterns.
The German Construction Industry Federation (ZDB) is now urging a postponement of the mandatory application and a revision of the regulation. "The new regulation serves the interests of biodiversity and climate protection and, not least, is intended to protect human rights. This is absolutely welcome," says ZDB President Wolfgang Schubert-Raab . However, its implementation would create new bureaucratic burdens , especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. These burdens must be avoided.
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Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has declared reducing bureaucracy a priority of her new term . Nevertheless, the deforestation regulation creates new administrative hurdles and "opens all doors to bureaucracy once again." Schubert-Raab questions whether the required complete documentation along supply chains actually advances climate protection. "Furthermore, we are not yet ready to apply the regulation , as the platform for information exchange between authorities and reporting obligations is not yet operational ."
The risk classification of the regions of origin of the products affected by the regulation, which is intended to have a significant impact on the scope of due diligence obligations, is not yet available . "And there are many other unanswered questions , so it is already clear that our construction companies will no longer be able to adapt to the defined scope of obligations in time. The application of the EU Deforestation Regulation must be postponed for two years and the EU law fundamentally improved ; otherwise, we will end up with the same old story: well-intentioned but poorly executed."
"To ensure efficient, practical, and streamlined implementation , the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) continues to advocate in Brussels for a postponement of the application's launch ," according to the BLE (Federal Office for Agriculture and Food). The BLE is the responsible authority in Germany and coordinates the regulation's implementation. The ministry is following the progress of the remaining work on implementation in Brussels " with great concern "—particularly the still-pending benchmarking, i.e., the risk assessment of the member states.
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