The European Deforestation-freeproducts Regulation, better known as the EUDR, is the anti-deforestation regulation approved by the EU that prohibits the placing on the EU market of products related to deforestation and forest degradation. The main objective of this instrument is to reduce the impact of European consumption on global deforestation by promoting a market for more sustainable products. However, the regulation, which will be applied from 30 December next, raises high concerns and strong doubts for wood-furniture companies. 

Claudio Feltrin, president of FederlegnoArredo, is critical, stating: "We share the goodness of the objective of this standard, but not its grounding. We are the forerunner supply chain in the inclusion of wood raw material certification as an indispensable element to combine respect for the environment and competitiveness, and we want to continue along this path, because our forests are a heritage to be defended and enhanced through conscious management of wood resources. It is different, however, to turn a noble aim such as combating deforestation into an increase in bureaucracy, which many of our small companies will not be able to bear".

FederlegnoArredo's letter to ministers 

The main problem is the overly burdensome burdens falling on operators in the supply chain, which risk paralysing the export system involving a large number of companies. FederlegnoArredo's objective is to sit down at the table with the institutions in order to give voice and defend the companies, also at European level, in their daily operations and export activities. 

For this reason, Claudio Feltrin has sent a letter to the respective ministers Maeci, Mase, Mimit, Masaf and European Affairs to open a dialogue and find a synthesis that will give voice in Europe to the alarm of the wood-furniture supply chain. 

"In the next few weeks," the letter reads, "important details concerning the application of the European Deforestation-freeproducts Regulation (EUDR) will be under discussion at the European headquarters, which will commit the companies in our sector to conducting due diligence that is totally acceptable in terms of its objectives, but which would oblige them to undertake bureaucratic burdens that are difficult and, in many cases, even impossible to implement, risking the opposite effect to the principles underlying the EUDR itself. We therefore believe that a constructive dialogue with the ministries involved is essential to protect the work of a sector that has always been attentive to the issue of combating deforestation, but which risks being paralysed and penalised".

The consequences of the measure 

The measure is likely to have a strong impact both on the national forestry system, on which important development policies are being implemented to increase Italian timber, and on the companies that export their finished products abroad, the true excellence of Made in Italy. 

"In addition to this," continues Feltrin in the letter, "by limiting the scope of the measure to the EU market only, there is a fear that some operators will decide to transfer their production plants or companies to countries bordering Italy but not subject to the EUDR, such as Turkey or North Africa, thus impoverishing the national supply chains linked to wood and its processing. FederlegnoArredo intends to put in place all the tools that can avert a disastrous outcome for the supply chain, for the protection of the environment and for the competitiveness of our country".

A series of meetings on the EUDR 

According to representatives of the forestry system, the regulation should be completely revised, with a request to postpone the entry into force of the penalty system by a few years. 

In view of its entry into force, the sector is discussing at institutional and operational level how to prepare for such a complex challenge. For this reason, FederlegnoArredo is organising a series of meetings throughout the territory to examine the EUDR Regulation in depth and to represent a strong and unified message at a national level. The first event was held in Friuli Venezia Giulia last 22 March in Manzano together with the Cluster Legno Arredo Casa FVG. 

A new appointment is scheduled for Wednesday 10 April in Milan at Palazzo Biandrà - Banca Mediolanum, where sector experts will illustrate the effects and criticalities of the new European regulations, with particular reference to the wood packaging sector.