The European Parliament recently announced its plans to revise key aspects of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). 'But what happens next?' the German Holzindustrie wonders.
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There has been good news from Brussels: Parliament has approved the EU Commission's proposal to postpone the implementation deadline of the directive by a year by a narrow majority. Parliament has also made substantive changes to the regulation: Among other things, a "no risk" category is planned for relevant raw materials and products from countries with no risk of deforestation, or more precisely: with growing forest areas. For these countries, only documentation requirements will apply, but no more due diligence obligations or due diligence declarations will be required. With its growing forest area, Germany would have been a candidate for this category.
However, the EU Council of Ministers, in which Federal Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir sits for Germany, only followed the European Commission's proposal to postpone implementation by one year. The Council of Ministers rejected the substantive change to the regulation by Parliament.
What happens next?
If the EU Parliament withdraws its amendments, the already known postponement of the regulation by one year will remain without any substantive changes. If it does not withdraw the amendments, an agreement must be reached by the end of the year in so-called trilogue negotiations between Parliament, Commission and Council of Ministers. Should these also fail or the agreement is not approved by Parliament and Council in time before the end of the year, the worst-case scenario could occur: the documentation and reporting requirements of the regulation will apply as originally intended: for large companies on December 30, 2024, for small and medium-sized companies on June 30, 2025.
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