The European Commission wants to push back the EU’s anti-deforestation law once again, considering a delay to rules that were already postponed from 2024 to this December.

In a letter obtained by Euractiv, EU Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall notified the European Parliament’s Environment Committee chair, Antonio Decaro, and the Danish Presidency, of her intention to delay the rules by one year.

The EU’s anti-deforestation regulation (EUDR) would force importers of palm oil, coffee, cocoa, cattle, timber and rubber to demonstrate that these have not been produced on deforested land in order to be sold on the bloc’s market.

Roswall pointed to concerns over the functioning of the IT platform managing compliance data, which could create “uncertainty for authorities and operational difficulties for stakeholders”. “In view of this, the Commission is considering a postponement of the entry into application of the EUDR, currently foreseen for 30 December 2025, for one year,” she added.

Speaking at the Council this morning, the Swedish Commissioner said she would engage in discussions with the Parliament and Council before formally announcing a delay – and left the door open to “simplifying” the regulation beyond the delay.

The EPP member leading negotiations on the file, Germany’s Christine Schneider (CDU), welcomed the move.

“For a long time, I have been advocating for a practical implementation of the Deforestation Regulation,” she said in a press release. “However, the renewed postponement clearly shows: the problems run deeper and cannot be solved by further transitional periods or non-binding guidelines,” she added.

Schneider said she would again propose the creation of a new category dubbed as ‘zero-risk’ that could exempt some countries – including EU member states – from the obligations. The last time she put forward such measures, they were opposed by the Commission and Council.

The news comes after the Commission concluded trade negotiations with Indonesia, the world’s largest exporter of palm oil – a key crop in driving deforestation in the past decades. During a technical briefing with reporters on Tuesday, the Commission stressed that Jakarta would still need to comply with EUDR obligations under the new trade deal.

UPDATE: This story has been updated with background and fresh comments from Roswall

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