The European parliament will vote later this month on whether EU legislation should prevent imports of products such as palm oil, meat, soy, cocoa and maize that are linked to deforestation.
A legal report will be voted by the whole parliament on 19-22 October. It calls on the European Commission to propose legislation against deforestation driven by EU commodity imports. The text calls for mandatory due diligence, reporting and disclosure with liability and penalties in case of breaches of obligations for all firms selling commodities, linked to deforestation and ecosystem risks, on the EU market.
The proposal covers commodities "most frequently" associated with deforestation, degradation of natural forests and natural ecosystems. A list of such commodities, and their intermediate or final products, should be prepared by independent experts and comprise "at least": palm oil, soy, meat, maize alongside other products such as leather, cocoa, coffee and rubber.
There is broad cross-party support for the text, which the parliament's environment committee last week adopted with 45 votes for, 11 against and 25 abstentions. The text also points the finger at imports of cotton, sugar cane and rapeseed, as contributing to global deforestation.
Amendments put to vote by plenary additionally call for the commission to "reassess" soy-data and phase out biofuels with a high risk of driving indirect land-use change (ILUC) "as soon as possible and by 2030 at the latest". And the text calls for traceability obligations on traders regarding identification of commodity origin and derived products.
Deforestation has been cited as one of the major reasons for stalling ratification of the EU's free trade deal with Mercosur countries — Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Commission vice-president and candidate EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovkis said that the bloc will next year put forward legislation to prevent commodities entering the EU27 that have driven deforestation.
