EU: Information system to support EU rules on ‘deforestation-free’ products

 

The European Commission has announced its plans to issue implementing regulations for the Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 on deforestation-free products.

Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 aims to promote buying, using and consuming such products to reduce the EU’s impact on global deforestation and forest degradation.  Deforestation-free products are products made without harming forests.

In accordance with the regulation, operators shall not place relevant products on the market or export them without prior submission of a due diligence statement.  The statement should be made through an information system.

The announced implementing regulation will lay down details of an information system that will contain due diligence statements submitted by businesses. These statements demonstrate that the products that businesses intend to sell in the EU or export comply with the new rules.

The information system shall provide at least the following functionalities:

(a) Registration of operators, traders, and their authorized representatives within the Union. For operators placing relevant products under the customs procedure of ‘release for free circulation’ or ‘export’, the Economic Operators Registration and Identification (EORI) number, established pursuant to Article 9 of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, must be included in their registration profile;

(b) Registration of due diligence statements, including communicating a reference number for each submitted due diligence statement to the concerned operator or trader through the information system;

(c) Making available the reference number of existing due diligence statements as per Article 4(8) and (9);

(d) Where possible, converting data from relevant systems to identify the geolocation;

(e) Registration of the outcomes of checks on due diligence statements;

(f) Interconnection with customs through the European Union Single Window Environment for Customs, as per Article 28, to facilitate the notifications and requests referred to in Article 26(6) to (9);

(g) Providing relevant information to support the risk-profiling for the plan of checks mentioned in Article 16(5), including results of checks, risk-profiling of operators, traders, and relevant commodities and products, to identify, using electronic data-processing techniques, operators and traders to be checked, as well as relevant products to be checked by competent authorities;

(h) Facilitating administrative assistance and cooperation between competent authorities, and between competent authorities and the Commission, to exchange information and data;

(i) Supporting communication between competent authorities and operators and traders for the implementation of this Regulation, including, where appropriate, using digital supply management tools.

The publication of the implementing regulation is planned for third quarter 2024.

To find out more about Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 on deforestation-free products and its implementing acts, please contact the Product Compliance Institute directly.