The European regulation on deforestation-free products will prohibit the placing on the market or export from the European market of products that have contributed to deforestation or forest degradation after 31 December 2020.
The scope of the text covers seven commodities: coffee, cocoa, rubber, palm oil, soy, beef and timber, as well as their derivative products such as leather, charcoal and printed paper. The text focuses on the deforestation of "forests" as defined by the FAO "Global Forest Resources Assessment. Terms and definitions FRA 2020" [PDF] and is based on a definition of forest degradation that takes into account different criteria of structural changes in forest cover.
Traceability and transparency are at the heart of the proposed scheme in order to make the sustainability of supply chains a new standard. The companies concerned by the regulation (operators and traders) will be obliged to carry out a "due diligence" upstream of the export or marketing of their product in order to provide sufficient information to guarantee that the product carries a zero or negligible risk of deforestation. In particular, they will have to geolocate the origin of the product at the parcel. This information will be specified in a declaration of due diligence that will be recorded in a European register that will centralize all these declarations.
A national competent authority in charge of controls will be designated at the end of 2023.
Frequently Asked Questions - Deforestation Regulation - (EU Commission - June 2023)