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Following high citizen concern over deforestation, the EU worked on a regulation on deforestation-free products, which came into force in 2023.
This law – a world first – makes it illegal to import or export forest-risk products that are associated with deforestation or that are produced illegally. It was lauded as a breakthrough in holding companies accountable in the fight against deforestation and forest degradation.
But there are worrying signals that some Member States are planning to delay implementation: media have reported about insufficient resources for the implementation of the Regulation and there have been recent attacks by EU Agriculture ministers.
It is therefore out of high concern that 37 NGOs from 15 EU Member States have sent an open letter to European Union Member States calling them on to implement the EU Deforestation Regulation on time and reject pushes for delay and watering down.
NGOs are asking EU Member States to focus on providing the proper support to their own farmers – as well as to smallholders around the world – to implement the regulation.