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EU deforestation rules must be designed in a practical way!
Chairman Manfred Denk is calling for a more fundamental rethinking of deforestation rules: “The EU Commission’s concern about excessive amounts of data proves that there is a bureaucratic monster looming here.”
EU deforestation rules must be designed in a practical way!
Nature conservation in the sights of big politics: The EU wants to ensure deforestation-free supply chains with new rules - but the project is boomeranging. Now Austria's trade and craft sector is sounding the alarm and calling for a radical course correction EU deforestation rules.
Pull the rip cord instead of patching things up
EU Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall's proposal to postpone the regulation for deforestation-free supply chains for another year is welcomed by trade and industry. However, the commission should not stop there, demands Manfred Denk, chairman of the federal division Austrian Chamber of Commerce.
"It is not enough to postpone the entry into force again. The EU Commission must now finally recognize that the desired rules are unsuitable for achieving the desired goals. Now it is important to substantially change the proposals so that the problems are addressed where they arise. And not by overloading our small and medium-sized businesses with pointless bureaucracy."Manfred Denk
Sham solutions and flood of data
In trade and crafts in Austria, numerous predominantly smaller companies that import the corresponding raw materials would be affected: from butchers (beef) to feed manufacturers (soy), from chocolatiers and pastry shops (coffee, cocoa), to carpenters (wood) to car manufacturers (rubber).
"These companies are neither responsible for the deforestation problems in the countries of origin of the raw materials, nor can they effectively influence global supply chains. That's why it makes absolutely no sense to bother them with bogus solutions and documentation requirements."Manfred Denk
Rethink deforestation rules
The division therefore proposes that documentation requirements – as has been common and tried and tested in the EU for decades – only apply to those who place the goods on the market in the EU for the first time. For Denk, the EU Commission's concerns that IT systems could be overloaded due to excessive amounts of data are the best proof: "This set of rules only creates a huge amount of effort without any added value."
