Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on May 26, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleEleven EU nations seek to delay and weaken the deforestation law, which aims to curb deforestation linked to EU imports. The law's launch is already postponed to Dec. 2025.
By Kate Abnett
BRUSSELS -The European Union is facing further pressure from member countries to delay and weaken its upcoming law to restrict deforestation, with 11 governments demanding changes, a document seen by Reuters showed.
The world-first policy aims to end the 10% of global deforestation fuelled by EU consumption of imported soy, beef, palm oil and other products, but has become a politically contested part of Europe's green agenda.
The EU already delayed its launch by a year to Dec. 2025, following complaints from trading partners including Brazil and the U.S., and cut back reporting rules after industry criticism. Last week, the Commission said it would spare the vast majority of countries the strictest checks.
A group of 11 countries, led by Austria and Luxembourg, has demanded the European Commission simplify the rules further, and urged delaying its application date again.
"The requirements imposed on farmers and foresters remain high, if not impossible to implement. They are disproportionate to the regulation's objective," the countries said in a paper, which EU agriculture ministers will discuss in Brussels on Monday.
Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia also signed the paper.
From December, the EU policy would require operators placing soy, beef, palm oil, cocoa, coffee and other goods onto the EU market, to provide due diligence statements proving the commodities did not fuel deforestation.
Due diligence requirements would also apply to EU exports, making countries worried about the impact on their own industries.
Companies could face penalties of up to 4% of their EU turnover for non-compliance.
The governments proposed amendments including creating a new class of countries deemed to have very low risk of deforestation, which would be exempt from customs checks and tracking the origin of goods.
A Commission spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Kate Abnett; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
The EU's deforestation law aims to end the 10% of global deforestation fueled by EU consumption of imported products such as soy, beef, and palm oil.
A group of 11 countries, led by Austria and Luxembourg, is demanding changes to the EU's deforestation law, including a delay in its application date.
Companies could face penalties of up to 4% of their EU turnover for non-compliance with the deforestation law.
The governments proposed amendments including creating a new class of countries deemed to have very low risk of deforestation, which would be exempt from customs checks.
The EU's deforestation law is set to be implemented in December 2025, following a delay from its original launch date.
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