Natural Rubber Supply Chain urges European Parliament not to amend essence of EUDR

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PRESS RELEASE

Natural Rubber Supply Chain urges European Parliament not to amend essence of EUDR 

 

Singapore, 13 November 2024: As Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) convene to vote on 14th November on the proposed amendments to the EUDR, the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) urges them to provide legal certainty around the implementation timeline and not re-open the regulatory text.

Along with the European Tire and Rubber Manufacturers Association, GPSNR has written to the European Parliament earlier this month to ask MEPs to use the proposal for amendments solely to create certainty about the timeline and not change the substance of the regulation. 

GPSNR members represent almost 60% of the global NR demand and include OEMs, manufacturers of rubber products, producers and traders of natural rubber, smallholder farmers, and civil society. All these stakeholders have worked tirelessly and swiftly to comply with the regulation, whose original date of implementation is weeks away. 

Notwithstanding this, GPSNR believes MEPs have a key role in ensuring the European Commission uses the proposed additional 12 months for implementation to resolve the remaining issues, particularly the functioning of the information system and the necessary secondary legislation, including on the benchmarking system as well as completing the planned review of the relevant products in Annex I by June 2025. 

The natural rubber industry strongly supports the vision of the EUDR and GPSNR members have been working on committing to and implementing strong environmental and human rights related principles in their operations for a long time. These efforts need the support of a fair and transparent regulatory environment that can help the industry move further ahead on their efforts on deforestation and human rights. 

 

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About GPSNR: 

GPSNR is an international membership driven platform set up to define sustainability for the natural rubber value chain. It brings together various stakeholders to a common ground based on fairness, equity and environmental sustainability. More on sustainablenaturalrubber.org

 

For more information, please contact:

Bani Bains

Communications Director

Email: bani.bains@gpsnr.org

Ph: +65 97268165

 

 

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GPSNR Working Groups Update: November 2020 (Members Version)

Join the Chairs and Co-Chairs of the Executive Committee and Working Groups as they share more on their current projects and upcoming highlights. Members will be able to pose queries to the panelists during the live Q&A session.

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Strategy and Objectives Working Group

The Strategy and Objectives Working Group is currently revising its Terms of References (ToR) to better reflect the plans for further developing GPSNR’s Theory of Change. 

The Request for Proposal (RFP) for a study on environmental impacts, and risks, in the natural rubber value chain has been published. GPSNR members are invited to circulate the RFP to any relevant contacts who might be interested in submitting proposals for this work. The deadline for submission of proposals is 27 November 2020.  

The Equity sub-Group has received the first drafts of the Living Income Gap studies for Indonesia and Thailand, and these are currently in review by both members of the sub-Group as well as the engaged consultants. The extension of the study on Human Rights and Labour Rights’ Risk Mapping in the Global Natural Rubber Value Chains conducted by independent consultants James Griffiths & Associates Sàrl, which focuses on issues of equity, is near its completion phase.

‘Policy Toolbox’ Working Group

The revised Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Policy Toolbox Working Group is being reviewed. Following approval of the ToR, the Working Group will be in a good position to move forward on development of the implementation guidance for stakeholder groups, as well as policy equivalents for civil society organizations and smallholder producers.

The Working Group has also conducted a preliminary revision of the Baseline Reporting Requirements following feedback from GPSNR member companies during the pilot testing stage. To find out more about the Baseline Reporting Requirements pilot testing, check out our latest article, ‘Updates on the GPSNR Baseline Reporting Requirements Pilot Test’.

‘Capacity Building’ Working Group

The Working Group is in the midst of revising its Terms of Reference (ToR) to cater to the shift in focus to implementation plans. The Working Group is also putting together a Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) Task Force that will work to identify and/or refine guiding principles for GAPs appropriate for the sustainable production of natural rubber that cater to both Industrial Plantations and Smallholder Farmers. The goal of this Task Force will be to create a document stating a high-level, international set of GAPs that can be disseminated to national Capacity Building groups for adaptation to local contexts.

The Task Force is currently looking for smallholder members who have experience in Good Agricultural Practices to join the Task Force. They will have the opportunity to collaborate and create the GAPs together with other Task Force members. Interested smallholder members are welcome to contact Aidan (aidan@gpsnr.org) for more information.

‘Traceability and Transparency’ Working Group

The Working Group is reviewing the two studies that were commissioned earlier. Plans to review the Working Group’s Terms of Reference (ToR) are also in the works as its members consider the next steps vis-à-vis the findings and conclusions from the studies. 

Smallholder Representation Working Group

Following the fourth international call with smallholder members, the Working Group has consolidated the responses from smallholder members who indicated their interest in participating in our Working Groups. A plan is underway to onboard these smallholder members into the various Working Groups.

Download the November 2020 Working Groups Update Slide Deck for more details on the progress of each Working Group.

GPSNR Staff November 25, 2020
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GPSNR Working Groups Update: May 2022

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Strategy and Objectives Working Group

The working group has made some significant progress this month on its work around risk simply by bringing so many members together in a room! Apart from this, their priorities for the next phase have been finalised and include the assurance model, a strategy for government engagement and a risk assessment framework.

Smallholder Representation Working Group

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Policy Toolbox Working Group

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Capacity Building Working Group

The group has kicked off GPSNRs first capacity building project on the ground in Indonesia with Koltiva (funded by Pirelli and Goodyear), for which you can expect updates soon! As a continuation of their work from last month, they remain busy with the development of the Knowledge Sharing Platform and technical analysis of other IT platforms, and will release updates on more capacity building projects in June!

Shared Responsibility Working Group

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GPSNR Secretariat May 31, 2022

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