EU will delay anti-deforestation law by another year, commissioner says

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union will delay its anti-deforestation law that will ban imports of commodities including soy, beef, cocoa and palm oil linked to forest destruction, the European commissioner for the environment, Jessica Roswall, told reporters on Tuesday.

This will be the second delay in the policy’s launch. Brussels had already delayed the policy’s launch by a year after complaints from industries and trade partners including Brazil, Indonesia and then-U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration.

Roswall said the delay was necessary to address concerns about the information-technology system and was not linked to US concerns about the policy.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett and Sudip Kar-Gupta; Writing by Makini Brice)