It will also prevent the import of products that reduce the number of forest trees

- Antenna - Vivek Mehta

- India raised questions before the World Trade Union regarding the rules of the European Union countries not to provide market for the products made by cutting down the forests.

European Union countries now want to consume only products that do not deplete forests. These rules have been brought into effect from 29th June 2023. However, time has been given for companies to implement it till 30th December 2024 and for small and medium enterprises till 30th June 2025. The exporter or marketer of the new products has to prove that the products he has prepared are not made from forest products harvested in the last few months. With the implementation of these rules, it is estimated that 320 lakh metric tons of carbon will be reduced per year.

Companies violating the rules on deforestation-free products will be fined up to four percent of their total exports to European Union countries. The amount of penalty can be increased in proportion to the financial benefit resulting from it. They will not be given the benefit of public funds. No new contracts will be entered into with these companies. Provision has also been made for the company to be excluded from the public procurement system for a period of time for violating the Deforestation Free Products rule. Repeated violators of these rules may be banned.

The Government of India has raised some questions before the Committee on Agricultural Products of the World Trade Organization regarding the rules of the European Union countries. The Government of India believes that since the forest cover of many countries is decreasing after 2020, the new rules of the European Union are discriminatory against these countries. European Union countries, on the other hand, say that their rule to consume only products that do not reduce forest cover does not discriminate against anyone. Along with this, he has assured India that there will be no adverse impact on their trade due to these measures or regulations. However, in the meeting of the Committee on Agricultural Affairs of the World Trade Union, India has demanded clarification on the rules of the European Union countries regarding deforestation. It has been decided to implement this provision for products after the year 2020, as it is feared that due to this decision India's exports of 1.3 billion dollars will be adversely affected.

India believes that the new provisions are discriminating between high-risk and low-risk countries. India's question is how the rules will be implemented in such a way that nobody is wronged. In our opinion, these are only restrictions being imposed on world trade in disguise. These regulations will adversely affect exports of cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber products, soybeans, soybean flour, soya oil, glycerol, natural rubber products, oil, fuel, paper and printed books. It will affect a total of 479 products.

The standards laid down in the newly prepared regulations or rules shall be considered as the ideal standards for classification of products or goods. The decision will be taken after taking into consideration how much forest has to be cut and how much agricultural land has been expanded to prepare those products. These norms will be applied uniformly to every country. A decision in this regard will be taken by the Criteria Commission based on the statistics prepared in a scientific manner.