Judging by the list of enemies (inside and outside EU borders) the Commission is making so far, it seems that the EUDR is proving to be a diplomatic failure. Now even the U.S. Congress and the World Trade Organization (WTO) leadership have taken the floor to say that the Anti-Deforestation Regulation, as it’s currently written, is inadmissible and unenforceable. We hope that President Ursula von der Leyen will follow up on the intentions to postpone the Anti-Deforestation Regulation. Because if she launches it as of next Dec. 31 (as per the schedule), she will find that not only the EUDR is a diplomatic failure, but also chaos at industry level.
U.S. and WTO
By late June, members of the Biden administration had written to the Commission to complain, stating that the regulation is “unworkable”. They must not have gotten satisfactory answers, evidently, because on September 20, more than 70 members of Congress wrote to President Biden urging him to ask the EU for a “24-month” postponement of the EUDR. The Regulation, we said, has already displeased many of the EU’s influential global partners. The U.S., certainly, but also Brazil and Australia, to give a few examples. Internally too eyebrows were raised, as the governments of Germany and Italy have recently expressed their concerns.
Even Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the WTO, told Financial Times that the EUDR just isn’t working as it’s currently written and that the Commission needs to do a thorough rewrite. If that weren’t to happen, it would mean that the cowhide supply chain (undeservedly included among the commodities to be subject to the regulation), would have fair reason to complain.
Image from Shutterstock
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