The Fair Trade Advocacy Office (FTAO) is disheartened by the European Parliament’s decision to go well beyond the European Commission’s proposal to extend the law by one year and introduce new amendments to the legislation. As the file is sent back to the ENVI committee before the start of the trilogue discussions between the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission, the FTAO urgently calls on the three institutions to reject the amendments and work towards a compromise in line with the original 2023 legislative text.

The adoption of further amendments is particularly unsettling, considering the Commission had explicitly stated that their proposal “in no way puts into question the objectives or the substance of the law, as agreed by the EU co-legislators”. In particular, the inclusion of a “no risk” classification could exempt certain countries from compliance, while allowing products associated with deforestation to continue entering the EU market through these countries.

As well as seriously jeopardising the entire objective of the law (i.e. to reduce the EU’s contribution to global deforestation), the proposal of a “no risk” classification will undoubtedly fuel enormous tensions with third countries and erode the EU’s reputation as a global leader in the fight against deforestation. 

This category has allegedly been designed to shield EU Member states from obligations as one of the three criteria reads that “a country’s forest area development remains stable or has increased compared to 1990”. This definition clearly benefits EU member states to the detriment of partner countries, who are understandably at an earlier stage of agricultural expansion in contrast with EU countries who have been able to deforest their lands for centuries with impunity.

The recent attempts to undercut the law stand in stark contrast with the record levels of institutional and public support it had in earlier phases of the legislative process; overwhelming majorities in both the Council and Parliament when it was adopted in 2023, and a public consultation which attracted the second largest number of responses (almost 1.2 million) in favour of the law. Besides, yesterday’s vote disregards businesses and Fair Trade actors who have been strongly demanding that no new amendments to the legislation are tabled to avoid legal uncertainty and losing important investments in adapting their production systems.

For more information, please contact Isabel Garland, Policy and Project Officer at the FTAO, at garland@fairtrade-advocacy.org.