Browsing by Subject "deforestation"

In response to the problem of global deforestation, on 31 May 2023, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 on the making available on the Union market and the export from the Union of certain commodities and products associated with deforestation and forest degradation and repealing Regulation (EU) No 995/2010, the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). The EUDR covers certain products that contain, have been fed with or have been made using seven commodities – cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya and wood – and imposes stringent requirements that the relevant products must meet to enter or exit the EU market. Namely, they must be deforestation-free, have been produced in accordance with laws applicable in the country of production and be covered by a due diligence statement. Employing jurisprudential regulatory research methodology, the study assesses how the EUDR aims to attain its primary public policy objective of curbing the Union's contribution to global deforestation and the extent to which the chosen regulatory mechanism facilitates the attainment of the Regulation's objectives. The EUDR's effectiveness, efficiency and coherence are considered. The study finds that while the chosen regulatory mechanism – a country benchmarking system and a list of contravening operators as a basis for a tiered improved mandatory due diligence system, relying on a deforestation-free definition – is largely fit for its purpose, it is vulnerable to several critical leakage problems that potentially compromise the attainment of the Regulation's ultimate goal of curbing global deforestation. It follows that the attainment of the Regulation's objectives calls not only for effective implementation and enforcement by the European Commission and the Member States but also for a rigorous review of the Regulation's product scope and ecosystem scope under the prescribed review mechanisms, as well as international cooperation beyond the Regulation's cooperation mechanisms.