EU eases deforestation law reporting for companies

By Kate Abnett and Maytaal Angel

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Companies will need less paperwork to comply with the European Union's anti-deforestation law as of December when it kicks in with changes by the European Commission.

The law will ban imports of commodities including soy, beef, cocoa and palm oil linked to forest destruction. Brussels delayed the policy's launch by a year following complaints from industries and trade partners including Brazil, Indonesia and the previous Biden administration in the United States.

Companies have to submit a due diligence statement annually, rather than for each shipment or batch of goods placed on the EU market, the Commission said in rule changes published late on Tuesday in response to industry demands.

By the end of June, the EU will categorise countries as high, standard or low risk, with imports from low-risk ones facing lighter compliance requirements.

"Our aim is to reduce administrative burden for companies while preserving the goals of the regulation," EU environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall said in a statement.

Brussels is also staving off calls from some governments and sectors, including the U.S. paper industry, for more policy changes and easier reporting obligations for firms.

Some campaigners criticised the changes as weakening the law's effectiveness.

"Reducing the reporting requirements from every batch to merely once a year is the pendulum swinging extremely from one side to the other, raising concerns about how effective monitoring and enforcement can still be," said Antonie Fountain, director of the nonprofit VOICE Network, which campaigns for cocoa sector reform.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett and Maytaal Angel; Editing by Richard Chang)