Colombia Announces Measures To help Coffee Growers Adapt to European Union Regulation
Colombia Announces Measures To help Coffee Growers Adapt to European Union Regulation
Bogota (Coffee Network) - To ensure that Colombian coffee can continue to access the European market, the National Federation of Coffee Growers is preparing coffee growers to adapt to the new regulation to enter the European Union.
By the end of this month, FNC will enable a platform for exporters to have access to georeferencing. This will be put into service at the end of this month
FNC is enabling access to the georeferencing of coffee lots, provided that growers consent to the Habeas data, which is the right of individuals to access, update, rectify, and delete personal data collected by third parties.
The coffee growers federation said they have updated more than 50,000d permits (habeas data) in the Coffee Information System (SICA) and it is expected that by December 93% of coffee growers will have authorized their georeferencing.
“Exporters will be able to use this platform to verify the georeferencing of coffee lots. The platform is in the enabling phase, and we are now testing it with some exporters. Its launch is planned for the last week of August,” said Germán Bahamón, manager of the Federation of Coffee Growers.
In addition , FNC has trained coffee growers on the regulation. To date, more than 30,000 coffee growers have been trained, a record number compared to other sectors.
Likewise, work is being done on the creation of a legal reference framework on the regulations applicable to the coffee sector, which recognizes the particularities of the sector, especially in the context of the family economy, which corresponds to 97% of all coffee-growing families nationwide. This initiative includes training in due diligence on legality, among others.
Another of the actions led by the FNC is to prepare coffee growers for the European regulations on non-deforestation and the exclusion from the European market of commodities that do not comply with the regulations. Currently, work is being done to educate and mitigate this risk, focusing on practices that ensure compliance with the regulations.
Through training in deforestation analysis, due diligence processes and using satellite images from systems such as Copernicus and Galileo, the FNC seeks to generate the capacity so that exporters can comply with the requirements and adapt to European Union regulations.
The National Federation of Coffee Growers continues to work with dedication to ensure that Colombian coffee continues to be a global leader in quality and sustainability, supporting coffee growers in their adaptation to international regulations without the costs falling on them.
According to the International Coffee Organization (ICO), Colombia, Brazil and Costa Rica are the countries best prepared to work on the EUDR regulations. Colombia, the Executive Director of the International Coffee Organization (ICO), Vanusia Nogueira said.
The law approved in December says to fight climate change and biodiversity loss, companies must ensure products sold in the EU have not led to deforestation and forest degradation.
While no country or commodity will be banned, companies will only be allowed to sell products in the EU if the supplier of the product has issued a so-called “due diligence” statement confirming that the product does not come from deforested land or has led to forest degradation, including of irreplaceable primary forests, after 31 December 2020.
The products covered by the new legislation are: cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm-oil, soya and wood, including products that contain, have been fed with or have been made using these commodities (such as leather, chocolate and furniture).
As requested by European Parliament, companies will also have to verify that these products comply with relevant legislation of the country of production, including on human rights, and that the rights of affected indigenous people have been respected.
But the law is already raising concerns in Latin America.
The Peruvian coffee and cocoa chamber said the provision will mainly hit cooperatives and producer associations that have specialized in European certified markets. “Poor management of support for the implementation of these new rules in these markets puts the livelihood of more than 350,000 families at risk and is an incentive for activities such as drug trafficking, illegal logging, and crime”, the coffee and cocoa chamber said.
The chamber more than 50% of Peruvian agricultural exports would likely be hit by the law.
The Colombian commerce, trade and tourism ministry, said they had raised concerns about the discriminatory nature of the products; the onerous mechanisms of due diligence, geolocation and traceability; and insufficient transition period.
By Diana Delgado
