In response to concerns raised by EU member states, non-EU countries, traders and operators that they would not be able to fully comply with the rules if applied as of end of 2024, the Commission proposed postponing the application date of the deforestation regulation by one year. Plenary agreed in October 2024 to deal with the proposal under the urgency procedure – Rule 170(6). Today, it agreed to this postponement as well as other amendments with 371 votes to 240 and 30 abstentions.

Large operators and traders would have to respect the obligations stemming from this regulation as of 30 December 2025, whereas micro- and small enterprises would have until 30 June 2026. This additional time would help operators around the world to implement the rules smoothly from the start without undermining the objectives of the law.

Parliament also adopted other amendments proposed by the political groups, including the creation of a new category of countries posing “no risk” on deforestation in addition to the existing three categories of “low”, “standard” and “high” risk. Countries classified as “no risk”, defined as countries with stable or increasing forest area development, would face significantly less stringent requirements as there is a negligible or non-existent risk of deforestation. The Commission will have to finalise a country benchmarking system by 30 June 2025.

Next steps

Parliament decided to refer this file back to committee for interinstitutional negotiations. In order for these changes to enter into force, the agreed text will have to be endorsed by both Council and Parliament and published in the EU Official Journal.

Background

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 420 million hectares of forest — an area larger than the EU — were lost to deforestation between 1990 and 2020. EU consumption represents around 10% of global deforestation. Palm oil and soya account for more than two-thirds of this.

The deforestation regulation, adopted by Parliament on 19 April 2023, aims to fight climate change and biodiversity loss by preventing the deforestation related to EU consumption of products from cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm-oil, soya, wood, rubber, charcoal and printed paper. Already in force since 29 June 2023, its provisions were to be applied by companies from 30 December 2024.