European Woodworking Industries Voice Concerns Over EUDR Implementation Delays

The European Woodworking Industries have expressed significant concerns about recent disclosures regarding the EU's Deforestation-Free Products Regulation (EUDR). A Financial Times article from March 8, 2024, revealed potential delays in implementing a crucial risk-based approach, which is foundational for compliance and encourages good practices in producing countries.

Key Concerns:

• Delay in Risk Benchmarking: The EU may postpone classifying countries by risk level to provide more adaptation time. This move could increase costs and administrative burdens for market actors without benefiting producing countries or Competent Authorities.
• Due Diligence Obligations: Regardless of risk classification, all market actors face the same due diligence requirements. The planned delay offers no procedural simplifications for exports or imports from standard risk countries compared to high-risk ones.
• Control and Verification Impacts: The designation affects how Competent Authorities (CAs) control and verify compliance, with more rigorous checks for high-risk countries. Identifying low-risk countries is crucial as it simplifies due diligence for market actors and reduces control frequency by CAs.

Implementation Challenges and Solutions:

• EU Information System Development: Essential for EUDR implementation, this system needs enhancements for secure, reliable data handling, especially for commercially sensitive information.
• Transition from EUTR to EUDR: Clarifications are needed to ensure legally sourced wood under the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) can still be sold in the EU market post-December 30, 2024.

Conclusion and Call for Action: The woodworking sector supports the EUDR's goals but urges the EU to reconsider its approach to minimize bureaucratic hurdles and ensure a realistic adaptation period for full compliance. Prioritizing the classification of low-risk countries is essential for a smooth transition and effective regulation implementation.

Signatories: The call for action is endorsed by major European industry federations, including CEI-Bois, EFIC, EOS, EPF, ETTF, and FEP, demonstrating the sector-wide concern and the urgent need for EU Commission action.

#EUDR #WoodworkingIndustry #EURegulations #SustainableForestry via open statement BRUSSELS, 12 March 2024 cei-bois.org