EU proposes to postpone implementation of anti-deforestation law until 2026

The European Commission proposed, this Tuesday (23), a new one-year postponement, until 2026, of the law against deforestation, a text criticized by the United States, Brazil, Indonesia and others.

European Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall explained to the press that the European Union (EU) needed more time for the law to be fully operational, in particular the "IT system" for forest monitoring.

In 2024, the EU had already postponed the entry into force of this law by a year, which aims to prohibit the sale in Europe of products such as palm oil, cocoa, coffee, soy and timber from land deforested after December 2020.

Environmental organizations have denounced a “serious delay” in implementing the law, calling it a “chainsaw” against forests.

The Commission's announcement comes just hours after the conclusion of a free trade agreement with Indonesia, a country highly critical of this European legislation.

This law is also being challenged by the United States, which signed a trade deal with the EU in July.

Several European countries, including Italy and Austria, are also pushing to revise the text or delay its entry into force, criticizing the “excessively high and even impossible to implement demands imposed on farmers and foresters.”

According to the law, importing companies must prove that their products do not come from recently deforested land, using geolocation data provided by farmers, along with satellite imagery.

This new regulation has generated strong opposition from the agribusiness sector and several African, Asian and American states, concerned about the additional costs it will entail for farmers, ranchers and forestry operators.

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