ICMSA welcomes EUDR delay but wants it 'substantially changed'
The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA) has welcomed the proposed delay to the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) but nonetheless called for it to be substantially changed.
Michael O'Connell, the ICMSA's Livestock Committee chairperson claimed that the announcement was "no more than a belated realistion" that it was no longer acceptable to expect farmers to submit details about their farms when the EU already has access to that information.
The commission has confirmed that it will propose a one-year delay to the onset of the EUDR's rules. It had already been delayed to the end of this year.
The regulation means that 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.
However, this will also apply to producers in the EU, prompting concerns over an additional regulatory burden for farmers.
The ICMSA slammed the requirement for due diligence statements from Irish farmers as a "frankly silly proposal".
"As if that wasn't administratively clumsy enough, the seller was also going to have to produce [the] coordinates of the land on which the animal has been raised," O'Connell said.
He added: "What really irritates and annoys farmers is the reality that all this information is already within the purview of the commission. It already has this information. It already has all the data and coordinates of any individual farmers' farm.
"But rather than look up its own records, it makes the farmers go through yet another laborious submission process where, for the umpteenth time, he or she will have to supply information and confirm details that they have already submitted annually for years.
"Why doesn't the commission look up its own records instead of asking us to submit all that information again," the ICMSA livestock chair said.
"It's unacceptable and the attitude behind it has to end," he added.
O'Connell called for the EUDR to be taken off the table altogether rather than postponed for a year, as well as for new rules to address deforestation.
Outlining the reason for the latest delay, commission spokesperson Olof Gill said: "While our simplification efforts have been substantial, we have concluded that we cannot meet the original deadline without disruption to our business and supply chains.
"In particular we have serious capacity concerns regarding the IT system given the projected load," Gill added.
