In a surprising and embarrassing move, the European Commission plans to push back once again the application of the Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) due to ‘IT problems’ after more than two years of preparation time.  It would lead to massive stranded costs for all those companies already invested in compliance, and to a loss of face of Commission President Von der Leyen. 

“It is probably no coincidence that this move comes right as the Commission pursues an unprecedented deregulation agenda, throwing the EUDR under the bus. This is unacceptable and a massive embarrassment for President Von der Leyen and her Commission. If this technical issue is real, this shows not only incompetence, but also a clear lack of political will to invest sufficiently in a timely implementation of the EUDR,” said Anke Schulmeister-Oldenhove, Forest Policy Manager at the WWF European Policy Office.  

The move comes despite the fact that only two weeks ago nearly 200,000 people urged the Commission to keep EU nature laws - including the EUDR – strong.   

 There is a real danger that the proposal of a delay would lead to further weakening of the law with devastating consequences for forests worldwide. The EUDR has been targeted by conservative and far-right political groups at the European Parliament, along with several national governments, pressuring the European Commission to "simplify" the EUDR, arguing that the current agreed rules “too difficult” to meet. 

“We should be able to expect more from our leaders than an excuse like ‘The dog ate my homework’! We’re calling on the Commission to step up its efforts and investments to get this system up and running by the end of the year instead of proposing a further delay of this important law, and caving in to political pressure,” Schulmeister-Oldenhove added. 

NOTES TO EDITORS: 

Since the EUDR was postponed last year, over 23 million trees have been lost forever. Over 7 million trees were lost due to chocolate consumption alone, and another 7 million trees more, due to beef & leather. Another 4.41 million trees more are destroyed every year, for soy (which is fed to animals and then ends on our plates every day in foods like fish, cheese or eggs.)