The European Commission is developing two new repositories to support the implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR): a repository on certification schemes and a repository on relevant legislation in countries of production.

The Fair Trade Movement welcomes these tools as a way to improve access to information and facilitate due diligence. However, their design and use raise important questions around their scope, reliability and potential unintended effects, particularly for smallholder supply chains.

This position paper sets out the Fair Trade Movement’s recommendations for the two repositories. It calls for the repositories to remain transparency and information tools, rather than substitutes for operators’ due diligence responsibilities, while ensuring meaningful involvement of producer countries and stakeholders in their development.

The paper also highlights risks including the potential creation of de facto “green lanes”, the shifting of compliance responsibilities onto certification schemes and producer-country stakeholders, and disproportionate documentary requirements that could exclude otherwise compliant smallholders.

Read the full position here.

Get in touch

For more information, please contact Virginia Enssle, International and Institutional Manager at the FTAO, at enssle@fairtrade-advocacy.org.