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Prague – According to the Ministry of Agriculture (MZe), the Czech Republic is demanding that the European Commission postpone the deadline from which Czech companies will have to comply with new regulations against deforestation. According to the ministry, some companies do not have enough information from the commission about the conditions they will have to meet. The regulation will affect thousands of Czech companies, mostly in the wood processing industry, but also publishing houses and retail chains. The lack of preparedness of Czech companies was also highlighted in a press release available to ČTK by Deloitte.
Large and medium-sized companies will have to meet the requirements of the regulation from December 30 this year, small companies and micro-enterprises from June 30, 2025. In response to a question from ČTK, the MZe stated that both companies and the public administration suffer from poor communication by the European Commission. “To minimize possible negative effects, it is necessary for the EC to publish and provide all entities with sufficient time to familiarize themselves with the key tools necessary for implementing the regulation. Since this has not happened so far, we demand, like many other EU member states, that the feasibility of the regulation be postponed,” said the press department of MZe.
The directive introduces, among other things, inspections, whereby it will be necessary to inspect one to nine percent of affected companies depending on the level of risk of deforestation in production. However, the MZe does not yet have precise information on how many companies will be affected by the regulation, so it expects two levels of costs. The costs do not, however, include further expenses, for example for the technical background of professional workplaces or registration of companies in the electronic system. Currently, there is no EU tool from which costs could be reimbursed, so the regulation will be financed from the state budget.
The aim of the regulation is to reduce the EU’s contribution to global deforestation and forest degradation. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, approximately 420 million hectares of forest worldwide were lost between 1990 and 2020, which is the size of the EU. Deforestation causes a loss of biodiversity and deforestation emissions are the second most significant cause of climate change. However, deforestation does not occur in the Czech Republic; the area of forests has been growing steadily, claims the ministry. While in 1990 the forest area in the Czech Republic reached over 2.630 million hectares, last year it increased to 2.682 million hectares, which is roughly a third of the total area of the country. (August 28)