The European pulp and paper industry welcomes the European Commission's plans to postpone the EU regulation on deforestation-free supply chains (EU Deforestation Regulation - EUDR) by one year. If the EU Parliament and the EU Council approve the proposal, the regulation would not apply before 30 December 2025 for large companies and 30 June 2026 for micro and small companies.
Only recently at the end of September, the EU Commission had announced that it wanted to stick to the implementation date of 30 December 2024.
The Confederation of European Paper Industries Cepi takes a positive view of the planned postponement. In a statement Cepi says that the postponement offers an opportunity to develop a stronger framework to combat deforestation. Cepi also welcomed that the EU has also published the long-awaited guidelines for implementing the EUDR. However, the information system developed by the EU for tracing raw materials still needs to be finalised, and the benchmarking system assessing risk levels by country is still missing, writes Cepi in its statement.
"EUDR is too important not to get it right"
Cepi issued a joint statement with other industry associations at the end of September in favour of postponing the implementation of the EUDR and calling for more time to prepare. In the statement, the associations noted that questions and demands for clarity for a practicable and harmonised implementation of the regulation have so far remained unanswered.
Industry representatives therefore urged that the entry into force of the EUDR be delayed and that the necessary compliance tools be provided in full and with sufficient time for adequate preparation.
"The EUDR is too important not to get it right. We certainly do not ignore the environmental crisis and the climate emergency, which the EUDR is designed to help solve. Nor is our industry a source of deforestation. From a business angle, deforestation is major reputational risk which for any industry; our industry also depends on healthy forests for our own future", comments Jori Ringman, Director General of Cepi, adding that Cepi fully supports "the objectives of the EUDR, and with this new timeline, we believe that the EU and its trade partners now have a much better chance at finally eradicating deforestation.”
German pulp and paper industry association DIE PAPIERINDUSTRIE also reacted with relief in a statement. Although the approval of the European Parliament and the Council is still required the association considers the postponement certain. It had also campaigned intensively and actively in recent months for a postponement at all political levels. "Until it comes into force, we will continue to work on improving the EUDR in the interests of our members," explains the industry association.
The Association of the German Wood-Based Panel Industry (VHI), Berlin, is also relieved. Together with DIE PAPIERINDUSTRIE, the VHI had campaigned for a postponement of the EUDR by at least two years in a position paper at the end of March 2024. In response to the EU Commission's amendment proposal of 2 October, VHI Managing Director Anemon Strohmeyer comments: "The Association of the German Wood-Based Panel Industry is relieved that the EU Commission wants to postpone the date of application of the EUDR. Together with the associations in the value chain, the VHI has been calling for this at national and European level since the end of 2023. The EUDR is an enormous bureaucratic challenge for our member companies."
She also urged the EU to use the additional time to create more practicability and simplification - "especially for countries like Germany, where no deforestation is taking place", said Strohmeyer.
