Will the EUDR regulations resolve the remaining issues before the deadline?

When it comes to shaping policy affecting the confectionery and snacks sector, few, if any, issues have dominated headlines around the world, such as the emergence of EUDR deforestation legislation passing loudly through the EU Parliament this summer.

There are just six months left until a groundbreaking legal framework for supply chains comes into force that will fundamentally place the onus on companies to be transparent and ensure that their ingredients are deforestation-free, as well as to ensure that human rights are respected in countries where where producers come from, including Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.

It is reassuring that there appears to be a high level of overall support for the policy concept, but there are reports that the United States has expressed concerns about its implementation and is calling for a delay, as do a large proportion of farmers in many locations on the Coast Côte d’Ivoire, as well as in Indonesia and Malaysia, the birth of this legislation is proving particularly difficult.

This has perhaps always been a complex situation, given the widely varying conditions in supply chains around the world across industries, with cocoa being a sector with its own historical set of challenges that need to be addressed in terms of tackling the underlying issues of addressing child labor and impact on the environment.

As previously reported, perhaps the main point of contention for many industry observers is the fact that EUDR relies on an advanced satellite geomapping system that regulates farm-level monitoring to ensure entire supply chains are covered in the process.

However, as recently revealed at the World Cocoa Conference, it was noted that the satellite system currently used to collect such data operated with far less than 100% accuracy. So until this factor in particular is addressed, it is difficult to predict how the program can be effectively implemented.

Moreover, in the minds of many people it is unclear who will actually foot the bill for such enhanced monitoring, with farmers in particular very concerned that they will be hit with further costs when they are the ones who can least afford to absorb such additional burdens. . Many agricultural workers in the cocoa industry actually already earn significantly less than the UN poverty level.

As a result, organizations including Fairtrade have been among many to raise this issue in the EU, so one can only hope that it will be resolved in such a way that producers/industry as well as consumers will have to pay more for goods to ensure that they come from completely sustainable sources. Six months will likely seem like a very long time for EUDR, but it remains to be seen whether the many other operational issues surrounding its development can be resolved in time to meet the projected implementation date by the end of December.

Neill Barston, editor of Confectionery Production magazine

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