EUDR: European Parliament approves one-year delay but proposes contentious amendment

On 14 November 2024, the European Parliament voted to approve the proposed one-year delay to the implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation (the EUDR). The delay, originally proposed by the European Council, would mean that large operators and traders would not have to comply with the EUDR until 30 December 2025, and small and micro enterprises would have until 30 June 2026.

However, the European Parliament also proposed some further amendments to the EUDR, the most significant of which is the introduction of a new country deforestation risk category of “no-risk”. Under that proposal, any commodities produced in countries that were in the “no-risk” category would only have to be produced in accordance with the relevant legislation of the country of production and would not otherwise be subject to the rigorous due diligence obligations imposed by the EUDR on commodities produced in all other countries. Opponents of this amendment say that it risks undermining the purpose of the EUDR, which is to create a deforestation-free common market.

The European Parliament also wants to impose an obligation on the European Commission to ensure both the risk classification categories for all countries and the information exchange platform for the EUDR are published and functional at least six months prior to the date of application of the EUDR. In the event the Commission has not done so, the European Parliament proposes a corresponding delay to the application of the EUDR.

Before the one-year delay or any of the European Parliament’s proposed amendments become law, a further agreed text of the EUDR must be agreed by the European Parliament and the European Council. As such, if those institutions do not reach agreement during December, then there is a possibility that the one-year delay may not become law prior to 30 December 2024, meaning the obligations of the EUDR would come into force on that day as originally envisaged. However, this would risk undermining market confidence in the EU institutions, which will likely now come under increasing pressure to ensure the delay is made law in advance of the 30 December 2024.