The need to revise Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 in order to protect the Italian and European leather sector
21.5.2025
Question for written answer E-002035/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Roberto Vannacci (PfE)
The Deforestation Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/1115) imposes burdensome obligations on operators in the Italian and European leather industry, a major employer and vital manufacturing sector[1].
Also known as the EUDR, the regulation applies to cattle skins that are classified under customs codes 4101, 4104 and 4107 and imposes significant obligations on the entire sector.
Though the leather industry’s activities do not in themselves cause deforestation, Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 makes it mandatory to provide geolocation and tracking data for each life stage of the animals concerned[2].
The regulation is, in addition, unclear on how to treat the skins of animals born between the regulation’s date of entry into force and its date of application, and it is also ambiguous about the status of waste, by-products and certain species, including the buffalo.
Operators working in the leather sector must upload a due diligence statement for each batch of animal skins onto the EU’s dedicated information systems. They bear full legal responsibility not only for these statements, but also for the data they receive from external suppliers who do not have reliable registration systems.
The EUDR could therefore make it harder to achieve its own objectives, seeing as its bureaucratic burdens could compel EU businesses to work with suppliers based in third countries where standards are less stringent.
In the light of the above:
- 1.Does the Commission not think that it should introduce procedural derogations to the EUDR in order to keep the EU’s leather sector competitive, avoid relocations and prevent European companies from operating at a disadvantage?
- 2.If it does not, is it planning to extend the requirements mentioned above to finished products derived from partially processed skins?
Submitted: 21.5.2025