Make the EU Deforestation Regulation workable for businesses!

"Postponing the implementation of the deforestation regulation once again is an absolutely necessary step. However, the time gained must finally be used to comprehensively revise the text of the regulation and make it practicable. Simply postponing it is not enough, as last autumn's experience has shown. Since then, the revision has been at a standstill. This must not be repeated, as it means a further extension of a period of uncertainty for businesses. 

Work must begin immediately to amend two key points of the regulation: documentation and due diligence requirements should only apply to products imported into the single market. And for zero-risk zones such as the EU, where there is no evidence of deforestation, due diligence requirements should be withdrawn and documentation burdens drastically reduced. 

The current regulation imposes requirements that are almost impossible to meet. Furthermore, it places an unjustified burden on small and medium-sized craft businesses. The benefits for environmental and forest protection are unclear at best. The complexity and bureaucracy of the EUDR are disproportionate to the intended objective of the regulation: To ensure that relevant products within and outside Europe that contain raw materials do not contribute to deforestation, such as wood, cocoa, beef, coffee and soy. 

In addition, the European Parliament also voted against the risk classification of producing countries proposed by the European Commission this summer. Businesses can therefore rightly expect that the European Parliament would support a renegotiation of the regulation."