Brazil urges EU to suspend 'punitive' anti-deforestation law

Brazil said Thursday it has urged the EU to suspend the implementation of a ban on imports of products driving deforestation, describing the new rules as "punitive".

The EU law, set to take effect at the end of December, will bar a vast range of goods -- from coffee to cocoa, soy, timber, palm oil, cattle, printing paper and rubber -- if produced using land that was deforested after December 2020.

The Brazilian government said the legislation was "a matter of serious concern", for the South American country is one of the EU's main suppliers of most of the products targeted by it.

"To avoid any negative impact on our trade relations, we request that the EU refrain from implementing (the law) at the end of 2024 and urgently reassess its approach to the matter," Brasilia said in a letter to the European Commission shared with AFP Thursday.

The letter was signed by the ministers of foreign affairs and agriculture.

It adds to concerns voiced by the United States as well as Latin American, Asian and African countries about the administrative burden the new law places on farmers and the forestry sector.

Within the EU itself, the agriculture ministers of around 20 member states -- led by Austria and Finland -- warned in April about the law creating new bureaucratic hurdles for the farm sector, at the risk of harming investment and distorting competition.

The largest group in the European parliament has called for it to be postponed.

Brazil said it considered the legislation "a unilateral and punitive instrument that disregards national laws on combating deforestation", adding it increased production and export costs especially for smallholders.

The commission confirmed it received the letter.

"We will reply in due course," a spokesman said.

It had earlier said it was "working intensively on the implementation of this new regulation", with no postponement planned at this stage.

The EU is the second-biggest market for consumption of the targeted products after China.

Firms importing the merchandise in question to the 27-nation EU will be responsible for tracking their supply chains to prove goods did not originate from deforested zones, relying on geolocation and satellite data.

Exporting countries considered high-risk would have at least nine percent of products sent to the EU subjected to checks.

The EU's environment commissioner in March visited Paraguay, Bolivia and Ecuador to address criticisms of the new law.

The bloc has also offered technical and financial help for importers to get their tracing systems up to the needed level.

EU imports are responsible for 16 percent of global deforestation, according to WWF data.

bur-ub/del/rl