Clifford Chance
Briefing on Proposal for a Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products
27 January 2022
On 17 November 2021, the European Commission proposed a regulation on deforestation-free products. This proposal falls within the ambit of the European Green Deal which aims to make the EU climate-neutral by 2050 and to curb biodiversity loss.
The proposal's objective is to promote products and value chains that exclude deforestation and forest degradation. It has therefore potentially significant impacts on some exporters to the EU and is likely to attract scrutiny from the EU's trading partners, including with respect to compliance with World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations. Overall, the proposal is in-line with similar US and UK regulations which were also introduced in 2021.
Here we answer key questions about the EU proposal and its international context in two separate briefings. In our first briefing we address the core provisions of the EU proposal, such as the scope and the main compliance requirements.
In a second briefing we address the international context of the EU proposal, coverings its WTO implications as well as similar regulations of the US and UK.
