EU offers to delay curbs on forest products after an outcry from trade partners

BRUSSELS — The European Union on Wednesday offered to delay by a year or more the introduction of new rules that would outlaw the sale of products that degrade forests following an outcry from several governments claiming that it will damage trade and hurt small farmers.

The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, said it would delay the rules scheduled to start at the end of this year until Dec. 30, 2025 for large companies and until June 30, 2026 for small companies, if the 27 member countries and the bloc’s parliament agree.

The “deforestation regulation” is aimed at preserving forests by only allowing forest-related products that are sustainable and do not involve the degradation of forests. It applies to things like cocoa, coffee, soy, cattle, palm oil, rubber, wood and products made from them.

Critics say it discriminates against countries with forest resources and would hurt their exports, while supporters insist that it will help save forests on a global scale. Deforestation is the second-biggest source of carbon emissions after fossil fuels.

In offering to delay the regulation by a year, the commission said that “several global partners have repeatedly expressed concerns about their state of preparedness" for the rules, most recently during the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Officials from leading exporters of affected commodities — including Brazil, Indonesia and the Ivory Coast — fear the regulation could act as a trade barrier, hit small farmers and disrupt supply chains.

But even EU governments, including in Austria and Germany, have also sought to water the regulation down or delay its introduction.

The commission conceded that “the state of preparations amongst stakeholders in Europe is also uneven. While many expect to be ready in time, thanks to intensive preparations, others have expressed concerns.”

In addition to offering a delay, it published additional guidance to better clarify the rules for companies and to help national authorities enforce them. The commission encouraged EU member countries and the parliament to endorse the delay by the end of this year.

Greenpeace said that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has condemned the world’s forests to another year of destruction by proposing the delay. It noted a U.N. finding that an area of forest about the size of Portugal - 10 million hectares - is cut down worldwide each year.

“Ursula von der Leyen might as well have wielded the chainsaw herself. People in Europe don’t want deforestation products on their supermarket shelves but that’s what this delay will give them, for another 12 months,” Greenpeace’s EU forest policy director Sébastien Risso said.