Government and EU Differ on Palm Oil Traceability

by: Mansuetus Darto, Founder and National Board of Palm Oil Farmers Union On September 12, 2024, I attended a meeting of the Joint Task Force (JTF) between the European Union Commission, the Government of Indonesia, and the Government of Malaysia. All civil society representatives from Indonesia and Malaysia attended online. This Task Force was formed in response to the European Union's new European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), aimed at ensuring that products such as palm oil, coffee, chocolate, rubber and wood entering EU countries do not come from deforested land. The EUDR was initially set to take effect in January 2025, but the European Commission has proposed extending the deadline by 12 months, with large companies required to comply by December 30, 2025, and micro- and small enterprises by June 30, 2026 for . Similar regulations have also been implemented by the UK and...