Slovenian Ministry marked the re-approval of the forest reduction regulation as an extraordinary success

Brussels/Ljubljana – The European Commission is considering postponing the start of the implementation of the EU regulation on deforestation again, as it fears that the information system will not be able to handle the burden associated with the implementation of the legislation. The Slovenian Ministry of Agriculture has labeled the one-year postponement as an extraordinary success.

“We are concerned about the information system, specifically due to the large amount of information that needs to be entered into it. Therefore, in collaboration with the co-legislators, we will try to postpone the implementation of the regulation for one year,” said European Commissioner for the Environment Jessika Roswall upon arriving at the meeting of EU member states’ agricultural ministers in Brussels.

As she stated in a letter to the Danish presidency of the EU Council and the European Parliament, the new projections of the number of information operations related to the implementation of the regulation are significantly higher than initially expected. Sources at the Commission explained that they initially anticipated about 100 million compliance statements per year, but the latest estimates suggest there will be at least ten times that amount.

After consulting with member states and MEPs, Brussels will present a proposal to amend the regulation, which would postpone its implementation for another year. Both institutions will need to approve the proposal.

According to the originally adopted legislation – its purpose is to ensure that the consumption of certain raw materials and products and trade in them does not contribute to deforestation or forest degradation – large companies were supposed to start implementing it on December 30 of last year, while micro and small enterprises were to do so by June 30 of this year. However, due to pressure from the economy, several member states and third countries postponed the start of implementation by one year last year, to the end of this year.

Slovenia has also been actively working with other EU members for the postponement. The Commission’s announcement has thus been assessed as an extraordinary success by the Slovenian Ministry of Agriculture. (September 23)