President Jokowi Leads Meeting on Impact of EU Deforestation-Free Regulation

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo chairs a limited cabinet meeting at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Thursday (07/13). (Photo by: PR of Cabinet Secretariat/Agung)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo Thursday (07/13) at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, chaired a limited cabinet meeting on the implementation of the European Union Deforestation-Free Regulation (EUDR).

According to Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, the guidelines for implementing the regulation are expected to consider adopting best practices that have been applied.

“We expect the implementation guidelines to adopt what has become best practices so far, including the Timber Legality Assurance System (SVLK) for wood products or the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) for palm commodities, and Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO),” the Minister said.

Airlangga went on to say that the EU regulation will affect seven domestic commodities, such as cattle, cocoa, palm oil, soybean, wood, and rubber.

Based on the regulation, the EU requests that any products or commodities imported from the EU should be free from deforestation—depending on the laws in each country—and complete due diligence procedures.

The regulation will also classify several countries into three categories in terms of the level of risk, he added.

The regulation, he added, was expected to impact 15-17 million Indonesian planters and products worth up to US$7 million.

“Smallholders must feel uncomfortable with this. Around 15-17 million of our smallholders will be affected by the regulation. We also made an objection to the geolocation-related matters. Those products do not need to be re-checked because we follow the RSPO or SVLK standards,” he said.

In the meantime, Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan said that the regulation was a discriminatory policy because it targeted Indonesian products that must be guaranteed to be free from deforestation practices.

To that end, the Government called on other affected countries to fight back against the policy.

“That’s very discriminatory. We will fight back, negotiate, fight. Certainly, we will also invite countries that experience the same thing such as Malaysia,” the Minister said. (FID/UN) (RIF/MUR)