{"id":10167,"date":"2022-09-21T16:05:18","date_gmt":"2022-09-21T14:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.etifor.com\/en\/?p=10167"},"modified":"2026-10-05T15:20:57","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T13:20:57","slug":"amendments-to-eudr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.etifor.com\/en\/updates\/amendments-to-eudr\/","title":{"rendered":"Another step forward on the new \u201cZero-Deforestation\u201d regulation<\/span>"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Forests and other natural ecosystems have been converted or degraded at extremely high rates in the past decade, mostly due to agricultural expansion in tropical and sub-tropical countries. <\/span>In 2017, the European Union was responsible for <\/b>16% of deforestation associated with international trade<\/b><\/a>, with soy, palm oil, beef, wood products, cocoa and coffee being the commodities with the largest embedded tropical deforestation imported into the EU between 2005 and 2017. To address this issue, the EU Commission has developed an<\/span> Impact Assessment<\/b><\/a> (IA) which included an <\/b>Open Public Consultation<\/b><\/a>, launched between September and December 2020, to gather stakeholders\u2019 opinions on the potential additional measures at the EU level to reduce the impact of products placed on the EU market. The consultation gathered <\/span>more than 1.2 million responses <\/b>and showed the large support from EU citizens to create a regulatory framework for banishing products from deforested areas.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

The proposal for a regulation<\/span><\/h2>\n

Based on the Impact Assessment (IA), and the European Parliament <\/span>resolution<\/span><\/a>, in November 2021<\/strong> the EU Commission published a <\/span>proposal for a regulation<\/span><\/a> to curb EU-driven deforestation and forest degradation. To achieve that, the proposal aims to drastically reduce imports of forest-risk commodities and promote the consumption of deforestation-free products. This would reduce at least 31.9 million tonnes of CO2 <\/strong>emissions yearly embedded in the EU commodity consumption and production. The proposal was well received by the civil society, but had many points to be improved, as summarised in a <\/span>position statement<\/span><\/a> from several internationally recognised civil society organisations. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

Discussions on the proposal<\/span><\/h2>\n

The text of the proposal was then discussed within the <\/span>Council of the EU, <\/b>under the French Presidency. In June 2022, the Council presented a version – the \u201c<\/strong><\/span>compromise text<\/a><\/strong>\u201d<\/strong> – including suggestions and concerns put forward by some <\/span>Member States delegations, <\/b>which stressed the need to identify the right balance<\/span> between ambition and realism in the provisions envisaged. In general, these changes were considered much less protective<\/a> than the original draft text. A month later, in July 2022, the <\/span>Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) <\/b>of the EU Parliament published a <\/span>report<\/span><\/a> with several amendments addressing several key issues highlighted by civil society. Finally, <\/span>the European Parliament text, approved on 13 September 2022 with 453 votes in favour, 57 against and 123 abstentions,<\/span><\/a> adopts the amendments introduced by the ENVI report, therfore reflecting the concerns raised by civil society. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

Amendments to the proposal<\/span><\/h2>\n