LUXEMBOURG — The European Commission has dropped a plan to delay its flagship anti-deforestation law, just a month after announcing it wanted to pause it for another year.

However, the EU executive has proposed a number of changes to the law to reduce paperwork, Environment Commissioner Roswall announced on Tuesday during the Environment Council meeting in Luxembourg.

Only the company that first places a product onto the market will have to submit a due diligence statement for example, she said, with the aim of reducing paperwork and reducing the load on the IT system.

The announcement follows a string of unexpected developments regarding the EU Deforestation-free Regulation(EUDR), which was enacted in 2023 and is designed to ensure products such as coffee, beef, cocoa and palm oil imported to the EU do not come from deforested land. It was already delayed by 12 months last year.

Under the new proposal, micro- and small businesses will still be given an extra year to comply.

The EUDR will come into force on December 30 this year as planned, however companies that can’t comply immediately have a six-month grace period until June 30.

The European Parliament and Council of the EU must approve the Commission’s proposal.