UNIC and COTANCE take EUDR argument to the heart of EU institutions
Leather industry bodies COTANCE and UNIC have made the case for excluding leather from the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) in a workshop at the European Parliament in Brussels on June 3.
Hosted by Italian member of the European Parliament Salvatore De Meo, UNIC and COTANCE used the workshop to present a clear, science-supported message that leather is not a driver of deforestation and deserves to be among the products that are exempt from the requirements of EUDR. The regulation will begin to come into effect at the end of this year.
More than 50 people attended the event, with representatives of the US, Argentina, Turkey and Australia taking part alongside officials from EU member states, the European Commission, members of the European Parliament, international organisations, industry experts and representatives from the leather industry.
COTANCE and UNIC said afterwards that the event marked “a major milestone in the industry’s advocacy efforts, and reinforced the importance of evidence-based policymaking in the revision of EUDR”.
The findings of a study conducted by the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies at the University of Pisa formed part of the industry’s message. This 2024 study offered a comprehensive review of academic literature and available data on whether leather contributes to deforestation or not.
Another important aspect of the workshop was that it served as what UNIC and COTANCE called “the missing impact assessment on leather”. The European Commission has carried out no assessment of the impact EUDR is likely to have on the leather industry in the European Union. This event filled this “critical gap”, the organisers of the workshop said.
Following the workshop, UNIC vice-director, Luca Boltri, said: “We are grateful to Salvatore De Meo, who listened to our concerns and gave us this opportunity to bring to the European institutions the facts of the impact of a piece of EU legislation which is totally disconnected from the realities of the leather industry.”
For his part, Mr De Meo said he was happy “to stand up for an industry that is the pride of Italian fashion and is unfairly stigmatised by EUDR”. He pointed out that everyone wants to curb deforestation, but that it is no help to “the credibility of EU legislation” if measures have no real effect on the environment and at the same time “stifle the competitiveness of EU industry”.
