Big questions remain with less than six months until the implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation. While the UK is outside the direct scope of the measure, any print that is destined for EU consumption will need to comply with the necessary information needed to track the source of the fibre used in paper.
It will also affect paper being imported from the EU and beyond with the potential to create chaos for months to come. This is because while the regulation affects fibre used in paper from January it will also apply in retrospect to paper that has been made and is held in stock or to books, cartons and other print that will be produced ahead of the deadline and distributed after the start of the new year.
The BPIF is pushing the UK government for further clarity and though membership of Intergraf, for answers from officials in Brussels. Following a gathering of members likely to be affected by the change, the federation has issued an update, declaring “there are more questions than answers”.
This applies with greater urgency to Northern Ireland where during Brexit negotiation certain goods would be spared tariffs when shipped to the Irish Republic under what is known as the Windsor Agreement. “The BPIF is calling for the UK Government to decide whether EUDR will be incorporated into the Windsor Agreement and if so to nominate a competent authority within Northern Ireland and provide its printers with detailed guidance on how to comply” it says.
Book printers are likely to be among the most affected and have been trying to create the systems needed to meet the regulation.
Clays, for example, says it is confident it will be in position to comply when the EUDR comes into force. It has received a first set of data from paper suppliers to enable it to test the information flows ahead of being able to provide live data at the end of September. This information, relating to house papers, can be shared as necessary with publishers.
The company anticipates having the workflows covering suppliers, customers, its internal systems and risk management in place by the end of October.
A major challenge is that multiple papers can be used in a book and these may be from both EU and non EU sources.
Despite this work, Clays says that questions remain, notably relating to the issue of transition stocks, those straddling the period before and after the 30 December deadline.
