EUDR delay calls mount as world turns on Commission’s plans

17-Sep-2024 - Last updated on 17-Sep-2024 at 12:41 GMT

More calls for big changes to the EDUR have been made, but is the European Commission listening?

No fewer than 45 countries, including the USA, and industry leaders have called for an EUDR delay as the sector rattles towards a deadline many have stressed it is ill-prepared for.

Malaysia is the latest territory to weigh into the debate today with Malaysian Palm Oil Council CEO Belvinder Kaur Sron urging the European Commission to “do the right thing”.

Her calls follow fresh warnings of disaster, should the EUDR be implemented as planned on 30 December.

“The EC should now do the right thing, and listen to the ever-growing calls for a delay to the EUDR,” said Kaur.

“A delay is now the only way to ensure small farmers are supported, to provide stability for businesses, EU Member States and governments around the world, and to avoid a chaotic implementation of EUDR.”

What’s the impact of EUDR?

The regulation is a non-tariff barrier that would add considerable cost and burden to the supply chain, while excluding smallholders from the EU market altogether, Kaur said.

Clear compliance guidelines had not been supplied, despite just four months until deadline, she continued.

Kaur also called for the EC to provide a genuine and wide-ranging exemption for smallholders to prevent supply chain exclusion.

There was a need for “specific” and “credible” criteria to ensure proven, sustainable commodities like Malaysian palm oil were identified as ‘low risk’ within the regulation.

Finally, it was requested the MSPO standard was recognised as a compliance tool for EUDR to ease market access for proven zero-deforestation palm oil.

Along with German chancellor Olaf Sholz this week calling for an EUDR delay, ambassadors from 17 countries including Brazil, Ghana and Thailand, recently signed a letter to the EC in which they described the EUDR as “inherently discriminatory and punitive”.

Who is on the new European Commission council

In June, the Biden Administration called for the EU to delay the upcoming regulation in a letter that demanded the EC address ongoing concerns before enforcing the penalties and challenges the EUDR would cause.

Added to that in the spring, Agricultural Ministers from 20 of the 27 EU Member States requested EUDR changes and also appealed for a delay.

Charity Fairtrade has also stepped up its support for regulation changes and delays. It stated it strongly believed in the objectives of the regulation, but called for more financial support and clarification.

Meanwhile, EC president Ursula von der Leyen unveiled her council team this morning, which will sit for the next five years, subject to EU Parliament hearings.

Christopher Hansen has been appointed agriculture and food commissioner; Costas Kadis is fisheries and oceans minister; and Olivér Várhelyi is commissioner for health and animal welfare.

Making the announcement on social platform X, von der Leyen said: “Every member of my team will bring in their own experience and perspectives on Europe. Together, we will be one team, working towards one common goal. To make Europe stronger.”

The EC would not issue a new statement on the rising calls for an EUDR delay and pointed FoodNavigator to a pre-recorded comment from EC spokesperson Tim McPhie, who said: “The legislation has been set by the co-legislators and the commissioner is doing everything it can to ensure that things are in place on time."