AMIENS, France—European Union environment ministers will reconsider a European Commission decision not to include natural rubber within the scope of upcoming anti-deforestation regulations.
NR was excluded from the draft regulation, issued last November, to prevent products that are deemed to be driving deforestation from reaching EU markets.
Listed commodities included products such as palm oil and soy but not NR, as the EC's research showed the material accounted for only minor levels of deforestation relative to the size of its markets.
However, at a Jan. 20-21 meeting in Amiens, environment ministers for EU member states launched a process to "gather more precise information" about imported deforestation.
The goal, said the commission, is to better ensure that EU citizens can consume products in the knowledge that they have not contributed to the destruction of tropical forests.
"Several provisions will be debated over the coming weeks, extending the regulation's scope to other basic products such as rubber," said a statement from the Amiens meeting.
The provisions will examine the impact production of these materials have on other fragile and biodiversity-rich ecosystems, it noted, which may bring it "under the scope of the regulation."
The move to reconsider the inclusion of NR in the regulation follows intense lobbying by environmental groups seeking to maximize the scope of the EU market restrictions.
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