EU officially excludes cattle hides from anti-deforestation rules — Mongabay
In the European Union, the decision to exclude cattle hides from the scope of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) has officially entered into force. The European Commission’s delegated act began to apply after the European Parliament and the Council of the EU completed their scrutiny period on September 14 without raising objections.
As Mongabay reports, the decision was the result of prolonged lobbying by the leather industry. At the same time, EUDR requirements for beef remain in place. Environmental organizations and supply-chain researchers believe this creates a regulatory loophole: products from the same animal will enter the EU market under different rules.
Review of the rules in 2030
The European Commission has not ruled out the possibility of returning hides to the list of goods covered by the regulation. Their status is to be formally reviewed in 2030. In comments on the changes, the Commission noted that excluding hides from regulation may not eliminate deforestation risks, but merely shift them.
According to the European Commission’s estimate, leather products could account for up to 17% of the aggregate deforestation risk among goods imported into the EU. Leather industry groups dispute this estimate. The Commission also calculated that keeping hides within the EUDR could provide annual environmental benefits worth from €979 million to €1.96 billion, while compliance costs would amount to around €16.7 million per year.
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Dispute over responsibility
Industry representatives insist that leather is a by-product of beef production and does not determine the scale of livestock farming. Edoardo de Paola, secretary-general of the European leather enterprises association COTANCE, said that a raw hide accounts for approximately 1.5% of an animal’s value at slaughter. According to the U.S. industry association Leather and Hide Council of America, around 40% of cattle hides worldwide are not used.
Miki Ng, a researcher at the environmental organization Earthsight, called the argument about the low value of hides misleading. She stressed that leather depends on the same cattle supply chain as beef. One of the sector’s main problems remains the traceability of hide origins, particularly regarding indirect suppliers in Brazil, where cattle may be moved between farms.
At the Sustainable Leather Forum in Paris, France, which brought together around 400 representatives of tanneries, luxury brands and the meat-processing industry, participants stated their intention to strengthen voluntary standards and supply-chain monitoring systems before the rules are reviewed in 2030.
