Joint statement: provisional agreement on EUDR postponement signals commitment to legal certainty

COCERAL, FEDIOL and FEFAC, representing the EU trade in cereals, oilseeds, oils and fats and animal feed, the EU vegetable oils and protein meal industry, and the EU compound feed and premix industry, respectively, welcome the Commission, Council, and European Parliament’s prioritisation of the 12-month postponement of the application of the EU Regulation on deforestation-free products during last night’s interinstitutional negotiation to secure legal certainty for all supply chain actors concerned. It is now crucial that the European Parliament and Council swiftly adopt their provisional agreement to ensure that the new timeline enters into force in time to avoid any further legal uncertainty.
Further to the need for the postponement to be formally enacted, we continue to urge the Commission and Member States to work together on implementation simplifications and solutions, in full compliance with the objectives of the Regulation, through updates of the guidelines and the frequently asked questions document. This work should aim to explore commodity and supply chain-specific solutions to enable broad participation by supply chain actors in EUDR-compliant supply chains. Recognition of compliant approaches and measures should also be harmonised across Member States for a level playing field and coherent enforcement of the Regulation.
COCERAL, FEDIOL and FEFAC will continue to offer their support in the implementation work of the Commission and Member States by proposing solutions and highlighting areas of the legislation that still require further clarification.

COCERAL is the European association of trade in cereals, oilseeds, pulses, olive oil, oils
and fats, animal feed and agrosupply. It represents the interest of the European collectors, traders, importers, exporters and port silo storekeepers of the abovementioned agricultural products. COCERAL’s direct members are located in 14 EU countries, with one European association, Unistock representing the professional portside storekeepers for agribulk commodities within the EU and one associated member in Switzerland. With about 3,000 companies as part of COCERAL national members, the sector trades agricultural raw materials destined to the supply of the food and feed chains, as well as for technical and
energy uses. Gafta is an extraordinary member of COCERAL.

FEDIOL, the EU vegetable oil and protein meal industry association, represents the interests of the European oilseed crushers, vegetable oil refiners and bottlers. FEDIOL members are 10 national associations in the EU and the UK and associated company members in 8 other EU countries. With about 180 facilities in Europe, the sector provides 20,000 direct employments. Its members process approximately 55 million tonnes of basic products a year, both of EU origin and imported from third country markets.


Download the Joint Statement.