Brazil wants the EU to delay the implementation of the deforestation law

Brazil has asked the European Union not to implement provisions in its deforestation law at the end of the year as planned, and also asked that it be revised to avoid hurting Brazilian exports, reports Euractiv.

In a letter to the European Commission, the Brazilian government said the law banning imports of products linked to the destruction of the world's forests could affect almost a third of Brazil's exports to the EU.

The law, passed in 2022 by the European Parliament, came into effect last June, giving companies 18 months to adapt. The law applies to soy, beef, palm oil, coffee, cocoa, rubber, wood and derivatives, including leather and furniture.

"Brazil is one of the main suppliers to the EU of most of the products covered by the legislation, which correspond to more than 30% of our exports to the Community bloc," said the letter signed by the ministers of agriculture and foreign affairs.

"To avoid the impact on our trade relations, we demand that the EU does not implement the EUDR (EU Deforestation Regulation) at the end of 2024 and urgently reassess its approach to the problem," the ministers also wrote.

Brazil's exports of these products in 2023 reached $46,3 billion, according to data from the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. The EUDR could affect about $15 billion of those exports, the government estimates.

"We consider the EUDR a unilateral and punitive instrument that disregards national laws to combat deforestation," the letter added.

According to Brazilian ministers, the European law discriminates against countries with forest resources and increases costs for producers and exporters.

Will there be an agreement between the EU and Mercosur?

The EUDR has been a problematic component in the EU's trade negotiations with Brazil and its partners in the South American trade bloc Mercosur.

Negotiators from the European Union and South America, who met in Brazil in early September, said they had made significant progress on contentious issues holding up the long-term agreement between the EU and Mercosur.

While the free trade agreement is separate from the EUDR, Brazilian officials are concerned that the law could be used to reduce their country's agricultural quota for the EU and want some form of compensation to be found if the European law is implemented.