DENVER — The European Parliament approved a one-year delay of a regulation that that would require importers of beef and other goods to show their products are not linked to deforestation. The rule was originally set to go into effect on Dec. 30.

For beef, the regulation would require geolocation data on where cattle were raised.

“It essentially requires geolocations for properties where cattle are raised to prove that they come from lands not deforested,” explained Erin Borror, vice president of economic analysis at the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF). “And there are several layers of requirements, so it’s a pretty intensive documentation process, and the systems were not ready for implementation on Dec. 30.”

While US beef producers don’t have to worry about the deforestation aspect of this rule, the paperwork itself could prove a burden.

“We have, in general, traceability on our production for Europe through the non-hormone treated cattle program, but those geolocations are not shared past the verifier,” she said. “So there are pieces that already exist, but they’re not all put together to be able to feed into … this information system that’s freshly launched, and the importers having those locations in play by Dec. 30 is not practical for the US or other countries. A year is not that much time to still try to figure everything out.”

USMEF sees the one-year delay as limited time to iron out systems for implementation as well as to also push for key changes to the rule, such as a “no risk” designation for trading partner countries where forests are not cleared for production.

“We remain optimistic that there could still be changes to this regulation to make it workable,” Borror said. “And just remember that we have a $20 billion trade deficit with Europe on ag products specifically, and that is just in our trade through October. So hopefully we’re in a strong position to try to reach some type of agreement, not just for the US, but for all true, no-risk countries to not have the burden of the EUDR, as it’s written.”