EUDR rears its head at Chicago event
The Leather and Hide Council of America held its annual general meeting for 2025 in Chicago on October 16 and 17.
Speakers included the secretary general of European industry body COTANCE, Gustavo González-Quijano.
He took the opportunity to give colleagues in the US an update on the European Union Deforestation Regulation, saying it was a topic that had haunted the industry in the US for a long time.
Mr González-Quijano said there was still hope among leather industry representatives around the world that the authorities in the Eurropean Union will “acknowledge that leather is not a driver of deforestation”.
There has been no formal announcement from the European Commission since news broke in mid-September of a proposed new delay to implementing EUDR.
As things stand, the regulation would begin to come into effect at the end of 2025.
European Commissioner for the environment, Jessika Roswall, confirmed on September 23 that concerns remained about the technology companies will have to use to present proof of EUDR-compliance. She said a new proposal to delay EUDR by 12 months was in the process of earning the approval of the various institutions of the European Union.
