European Union proposes to exclude French Guiana from the territorial scope of the EU Deforestation Regulation for domestically produced and consumed products, effective upon adoption of the new Council Regulation.<\/p>\n
The European Commission has proposed to exclude French Guiana from the EU Deforestation Regulation, lifting due-diligence rules for goods produced and consumed within the territory when the measure takes effect.<\/p>\n
The change removes a requirement that companies selling cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soy or wood in French Guiana prove the products did not cause deforestation. It also suspends the same obligation for shipments between French Guiana and non-EU countries. The delivered cost of locally grown food is expected to fall, but any goods moved from French Guiana into the rest of the EU will still need a due-diligence statement<\/strong>1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n French Guiana covers 83,000 km\u00b2\u2014roughly the size of Austria\u2014and 95 % of it is forest. The population is projected to grow from 285,000 in 2020 to 540,000 by 20401<\/a><\/sup>. Local food production relies on small, planned clearings; applying the deforestation rules to those clearings, the Commission said, would have raised import dependence and transport emissions.<\/p>\n The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) entered into force in June 2023 and is scheduled to apply to large companies from 30 December 2026<\/strong>2<\/a><\/sup>. It requires every operator placing covered commodities on the EU market to submit a due-diligence statement showing the goods were produced on land that was not deforested after 31 December 2020.<\/p>\n French Guiana is one of the EU\u2019s nine outermost regions, recognised in Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU. The article allows the Council to adopt specific measures for these regions, including tailored trade and customs rules. The Commission argued that applying the EUDR to French Guiana\u2019s domestic production would have imposed a disproportionate burden, given the region\u2019s remoteness, porous borders with Suriname and Brazil, and limited administrative capacity1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n The proposal adds a new paragraph to Article 1 of the EUDR, stating that \u201cFrench Guiana shall be excluded from the territorial scope of this Regulation, including the customs territory as defined in Article 2(34)\u201d1<\/a><\/sup>. The exclusion covers both goods produced in French Guiana and consumed there, and goods traded between French Guiana and third countries. It does not extend to the other French outermost regions\u2014Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, R\u00e9union or Saint-Martin.<\/p>\n Under the current rules, any shipment of cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soy or wood entering the EU market must carry a due-diligence statement. The same requirement applies to exports from the EU. The proposal keeps those obligations in place for goods moving between French Guiana and the rest of the EU: a container of coffee sent from Cayenne to Marseille will still need a due-diligence statement1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\nWhy the exemption was proposed<\/h2>\n
Projected population of French Guiana<\/h4>\n
What the exemption changes for trade<\/h2>\n
Where the due-diligence statement survives<\/h4>\n