A RECENT webinar for Australian stakeholders hosted by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries stepped through the requirements to export a range of commodities into the European Union from January, under the new EU Deforestation Regulation.

The DAFF workshop appears to have removed any doubt that the new EUDR regulations will in fact go ahead as planned from 31 December this year – after two consecutive 12-month delays to the original schedule due to administrative challenges, over-complexity and other challenges.

In the case of Australian beef and lamb entering the EU market via sea freight, it effectively means that product being shipped from next month, must be compliant with the new EUDR regulation.

While the EU’s ban on the importation of Brazilian beef early this month was focussed on Brazil’s failure to provide guarantees that antimicrobials prohibited by the EU are not used in production, many commentators in the EU also linked the move to similar concerns over deforestation.

One of the articles in the new legislation provides for simplified due diligence in cases of sourcing from ‘low-risk’ countries, which include Australia.

Operators sourcing their commodities from a country classified as low-risk only need to collect relevant information for a risk assessment. If the risk assessment concludes that there is no or negligible risk, operators do not need to put in place risk mitigation measures.

In the case of Australian beef, the primary risk assessment requirement is geolocation of properties involved in the supply of EU-eligible beef.

Concerns over loss of forest areas

The key driver behind the EU’s deforestation policy is its concerns over global loss of forested area, which the briefing told stakeholders  ‘seems to be accelerating after a slow down during the previous decade.’

It suggested land conversion to permanent agriculture was the main driver of global deforestation, representing 97.1pc of all deforestation activity.

As a result the new EUDR regulations require all products – both domestic and imported – to be ‘legally produced and deforestation-free.’

Commodities in the scope of the regulation include beef and lamb, soybean, wood, coffee, rubber, cocoa, oil palm and other listed derived products. Cattle hides and processed leather products were originally on the list, but have now been removed.

In the absence of any Free Trade Agreement with the EU, Australian beef exports to the region have been modest in recent years, by any standards – despite the EU region recording long-term declines in domestic beef production. Total Australian exports for the calendar year to date have reached only 4457 tonnes, or about half of one percent of all exports. Year to date volume is virtually the same as last year.    Eleven years ago (2015), the EU accounted for 23,400t of Australian beef.

To support stakeholders, the European Commission has developed a range of information materials on EUDR regulation, including a revamped website and infographics – click here to access