Leather removed from EUDR scope
The European Commission has now published a new draft of a ‘delegated act’ amending the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) legislation. The new draft is part of a review of EUDR that it promised to carry out before the end of April. Significantly, the new draft removes leather from the scope of the regulation.
A ‘delegated act’ allows the Commission to update EUDR legislation without going through the full legislative process again. Removing leather from the list of products and by-products that need to comply with the regulation’s traceability requirements is something that Commission officials hinted at the end of April. Confirmation came on May 4 with the publication of the new draft.
The Commission said it had produced the new draft to reflect stakeholder feedback from a stakeholder consultation. The new draft will also be open for public feedback until June 1.
Leather industry figures have urged colleagues from all parts of the global industry to take part in the new feedback exercise and express support for leather’s removal from the scope of EUDR.
In the text, one paragraph makes clear that cattle hides at all stages of processing, from raw to finished bovine leather, “are deleted”.
Industry representative body COTANCE said: “This is more than just a regulatory adjustment. It is the formal recognition of a position COTANCE has held and defended, with evidence, since the EUDR’s inception.”
It said hides, skins and leather are “merely by-products” of the meat and dairy industries. They do not drive cattle farming. They do not drive deforestation. COTANCE argued that leather’s inclusion in the scope of EUDR had never been subject to an impact assessment. It added that the exclusion now of hides and leather was the correct thing for the Commission to do.
Image: Lineapelle.
