An Irish MEP has said that the proposed delay to the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) will be “good news” for the Irish beef sector if it is ratified by the European Parliament.
Fianna Fáil MEP for Ireland South Cynthia Ní Mhurchú said she is confident that the 12-month delay will be adopted by the European Parliament in a vote slated for November 14.
Under the EUDR, companies will only be allowed to sell products in the EU if the supplier provides a “due diligence” statement confirming that the product does not come from deforested land or has led to forest degradation after December 31, 2020.
The new regulation, which replaces the EU Timber Regulations, had been set to enter into force from the end of this year.
However, in early October, the European Commission proposed delaying its implementation until December 30, 2025 for large companies and June 30, 2026 for micro and small enterprises.
According to Ní Mhurchú, the regulations will negatively impact on the Irish beef industry. She said she wants to use the vote in the European Parliament to amend the regulations to “take account of the concerns of Irish farmers and our beef industry in particular”.
The MEP said that the regulation needs a simplified process to verify whether a food product has not led to deforestation.
The EUDR was initially voted through the European Parliament in 2023 as part of proposals which were designed to protect against deforestation. However, Ní Mhurchú said that the unintended consequences are a “raft of new red tape aimed at Irish beef farmers”.
“Irish farmers will have to provide paperwork detailing the geolocation coordinates of the farm where the cows were bred to show it is deforestation-free. Under the measures, cutting down trees on their own land could be considered ‘deforestation’ — a designation that would block them from selling beef from that land on the EU market,” she said.
“Farmers will also have to ensure they are not using animal feed that contains soy or palm oil that is driving deforestation abroad,” Ní Mhurchú added.
She said the EUDR is “well-intentioned but ultimately flawed”.
“I understand the motivation of these regulations which are designed to ensure that vast areas of forest lands in developing countries are not wiped out to make way for cattle grazing. The trouble is that we are inadvertently impacting on our own domestic beef industry.
“The beef industry, and therefore beef farmers, will need to carry out a rigorous analysis of their supply chains to guarantee that the products they introduce into the market, or export, do not contribute to deforestation. That may be an onerous process for an industry that is already heavily regulated. We need a rethink on this one,” the Fianna Fáil MEP said.