Prague – The postponement of the European regulation against deforestation could cause a collapse of supply chains and a shortage of goods in stores. In today’s press release, the Food Chamber of the Czech Republic and the Association of Czech Traditional Trade (AČTO) stated this. According to them, the regulation, which will come into effect on December 30 this year, is not sufficiently prepared and will cause excessive bureaucratic burden. The Czech Republic has repeatedly criticized the standard, and the European Commission proposed easing measures for small businesses on Tuesday.
“Brussels officials are fatally detached from market reality, and their approach will put thousands of EU small and medium-sized enterprises, which form the backbone of supply chains, in trouble,” said the president of the Food Chamber Dana Večeřová. According to the chairman of AČTO Pavla Březiny, the regulation threatens basic supply and free trade. “In stores, there may be empty shelves for selected commodities,” he stated.
The regulation applies to livestock, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soy, wood, or rubber. Sellers will be required to verify before placing products on the EU market that these products are not linked to deforestation anywhere in the world. In practice, companies should collect and report data and coordinates of the land on which they produce commodities to ensure that they are not associated with deforestation, and then record them in the European information system.
However, food producers point out that generating one geolocation code takes about ten minutes, and the data entry system is unstable. “Millions of item numbers must be uploaded to the information system. Such a requirement is completely unfeasible in real-time,” the chamber states.
The Food Chamber is preparing an open letter to MEPs, urging them to reject the current proposal. The chamber, along with the association, also demands that the future government clearly oppose the regulation. Concerns about excessive bureaucracy, increased costs, or complications in the supply of beef, chocolate, and other foods have also been expressed earlier by farmers and traders. Minister of Agriculture Marek Výborný (KDU-ČSL) said at the end of August this year that the system is not yet functional, and if it is not operational, he cannot imagine that foresters, farmers, and other producers should be burdened by it. (October 24)
