"Former EU environment chief hits out at plans to delay anti-deforestation law," 3 October 2024

...The European Commission proposed a 12-month delay to the law, which has been hailed by its advocates as the most ambitious in the world to combat deforestation. The law will ban the sale in the EU of commodities linked to deforestation such as cocoa, coffee, soya, palm oil and rubber, as well as products including chocolate, leather and furniture. Companies are required to use satellite monitoring and other checks to ensure their products have not been produced on land deforested or degraded after 31 December 2020.

The delay must be approved by the EU ministers and the European parliament to take effect...

The call for a delay followed intense lobbying from governments and companies around the world, which argued that the law unfairly penalised exports to Europe and would harm small farmers and businesses.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the commission said a 12-month delay “to phase in the system” was a balanced solution that would support operators around the world in “securing a smooth implementation from the start”.

Countries including Brazil and Australia had pushed for a delay, arguing that EU officials were using the wrong data to measure forests, while Indonesia and Ivory Coast have said it could penalise small farmers and harm their exports...