Report of the European Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
"Report with recommendations to the Commission on an EU legal framework to halt and reverse EU-driven global deforestation", 7 October 2020
The European Parliament...
Underlines that approximately 80 % of global deforestation is caused by the expansion of land used for agriculture...
Notes that third-party certification and labels alone are not effective in preventing forest and ecosystem-risk commodities and products from entering the Union internal market...
Underlines that a policy measure that is dependent solely on consumer choice unduly shifts the responsibility to purchase deforestation-free products to consumers...
...calls on the Commission to present a proposal... for an EU legal framework based on mandatory due diligence, reporting, disclosure and third party participation requirements, as well as liability and penalties in case of breaches of obligations for all companies placing for the first time on the Union market commodities entailing forest and ecosystem risks and products derived from these commodities, and access to justice and remedy for victims of breaches of these obligations...; emphasises that the same legal framework should also apply to all financial institutions authorised to operate in the Union that are providing money to companies that harvest, extract, produce, process or trade forest and ecosystem-risk commodities and derived products...
RECOMMENDATIONS AS TO THE CONTENT OF THE PROPOSAL REQUESTED...
... The proposal should apply to all operators, irrespective of their legal form, size or complexity of their value chains...
...Operators should take all necessary measures to respect and ensure the protection of human rights, natural forests and natural ecosystems, as set out in the proposal, throughout their entire value chain.... In doing so, operators should take a risk-based approach to due diligence...
...Operators should be:
i) jointly and severally liable for harm arising out of human rights abuses or damage to natural forests and natural ecosystems, as set out in the proposal, that has been caused, aggravated, contributed by or linked to controlled or economically dependent entities;
ii) liable for harm arising out of human rights abuses or damage to natural forests and natural ecosystems, as set out in the proposal, directly linked to their products, services or operations through a business relationship, unless they can prove they acted with due care and took all reasonable measures given the circumstances that could have prevented the harm...