Documents confirm leather's exclusion from the legislation
The final list of products covered under the EU’s deforestation regulation excludes leather, as well as carving out palm oil-derived products used for medicines and soybean seeds.
The final regulation and annex are virtually identical to the versions obtained by Euractiv on 29 June, which confirmed the exclusion of leather.
Since finished leather products, such as shoes and bags, are not covered by the legislation, the European Commission justifies the exclusion by arguing that keeping leather within scope could risk relocating deforestation to other countries where manufacturing takes place.
The move has been slammed by German socialist MEP Delara Burkhardt, one of the lead lawmakers on the file in European Parliament, who said on Monday that there is no “scientific or technical justification” for its exclusion.
