Brussels calls for a delay of another year in the implementation of the European law against imported deforestation.

Brussels, Sep 23 (EFE) - The European Commission announced Tuesday that it will seek to delay the entry into force of new EU legislation to curb imported deforestation for another year, because the government has failed to sufficiently simplify the regulations.

"Despite our efforts on simplification, we are still not fully achieving this. We believe we cannot achieve this without some disruption to our businesses and our supply chains (…). We will seek, together with the co-legislators, a one-year postponement," Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall said on Tuesday.

Avoid generating deforestation

The regulation seeks to prevent certain raw materials and derived products consumed in the EU from generating deforestation, as between 1990 and 2020, a larger area of ​​forest was destroyed globally than the EU, and nearly 10% of this is attributable to European consumption.

The regulations affect livestock, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soybeans, timber, and rubber, including derivatives such as leather, chocolate, and furniture, and were originally scheduled to come into effect on November 30, 2024.

Companies importing these raw materials into the EU must demonstrate, using a geolocation system, that they have not caused deforestation or forest degradation in the areas where the resources were obtained.

A first extension a year ago

But a year ago, amid pressure from Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Indonesia, the United States, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, the European Commission, headed by Ursula von der Leyen, agreed to an initial extension of just over a year, until the end of December 2025, for the rules to begin applying to large companies, and until June 2026 for small businesses.

The EU removes Latin America from its list of "high-risk" countries for imported deforestation.

The Member States and the European Parliament accepted that first extension, which was widely criticized by the left and environmentalists, including Virginijus Sinkevicius, who was Environment Commissioner when the law was drafted and negotiated in 2023, now a Green MEP from Lithuania.

Months later, in May 2025, the Commission published the controversial list of countries whose exports to the European Union of the products covered by the law could lead to deforestation at source, but only included Russia, Belarus, North Korea, and Burma in the "high risk" category.

Brussels hits the brakes again

And just three months after its entry into force, Brussels has once again slammed the brakes on ambitious environmental regulations, which add to other rollbacks of the Green Deal, such as giving car manufacturers greater flexibility in reducing CO2 emissions or suspending the processing of regulations against greenwashing.

The Environment Commissioner stated that the Executive is concerned about the "volume of information" that must be entered into the "computer system" that supports the regulations.

"We need time to combat the risk of information overload in the IT system," the Swedish Christian Democrat said Tuesday.

Asked whether the delay was due to pressure from the United States, Roswall denied that the decision was related to maneuvers by the Donald Trump administration, nor to the trade agreement concluded this Monday between Indonesia and the European Union.

"No, no, it's not linked at all. And it was a discussion that, I mean, we have with many states, not just the US, all over the world when (…), so it's not related," he said.

The commissioner assured that the Executive remains committed to combating deforestation.

"This is a really important issue for the world and for the European Union. But, having said that, we tried to simplify and ensure the system worked, and now we see a risk that requires this additional time to strengthen the capacity of the IT system," concluded Roswall, who now needs the agreement of the Twenty-Seven and the European Parliament to postpone the law against imported deforestation again.