BRICKENDONBURY, U.K.—European Union lawmakers need to be more aware of what is happening in rubber-producing countries in response to the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
That's according to Noorliana Mohd Zan of the Malaysian Rubber Board, speaking in a presentation at the Rubber Consultants Industry Day, held Oct. 7 at the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre.
A delegation from Malaysia and Indonesia recently went to Brussels to explain the situation and found EU officials were "open" to considering the growers' perspective, the MRB research officer reported at the event in Brickendonbury.
However, such openness was not evident in the recently updated EUDR guidelines issued alongside the European Commission's proposal to delay its implementation by 12 months.
The EU has still not addressed many issues, including those around different national definitions of forest, land-classification and "third-parties' rights," as well as geolocation methodology and data-protection for individuals.
According to the MRB official, Brussels still lacks an understanding of the need for an integrated approach to EUDR compliance across NR producing countries to safeguard cross-border trading of materials and products.