EU Deforestation Rule Delayed

The European Parliament recently approved a one-year delay to regulations that would require importers of beef and other goods to show their products are not linked to deforestation.  The law was slated to go into effect at the end of the year, but as U.S. Meat Export Federation Vice President of Economic Analysis Erin Borror explains, the EU systems were not ready.

“It essentially requires geolocations for properties where cattle are raised to prove that they come from lands not deforested," Borror noted.  "And there are several layers of requirements, so it's a pretty intensive documentation process, and the systems were not ready for implementation on December 30th.”

Borror said deforestation is not a concern for U.S. beef, but the regulation as written places a significant documentation burden on American producers.

“We have, in general, traceability on our production for Europe through the non hormone treated cattle program, but those geo locations are not shared past the verifier. So there are pieces that already exist, but they're not all put together to be able to feed into, again, this information system that's freshly launched, and having the importers having those locations in play by December 30 - not practical for the U.S. or other countries.”

Borror noted the industry remains optimistic there could still be changes to this “burdensome” regulation to make it workable.  She added she’s hopeful the American industry is in a strong position to reach some type of agreement that’s not just beneficial for the U.S., but other counties as well.

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