Leather trade urged to support EU plan to drop hides from deforestation rules

The global leather sector is being urgently mobilised to support a European Commission proposal that could exempt hides, skins, and leather from stringent new anti-deforestation rules. Gustavo González-Quijano, an institutional advocacy consultant and former secretary-general of the European Confederation of the Tanning Industry (Cotance), has issued a directive for international stakeholders to participate in an active public consultation regarding the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). The regulatory intervention aims to formally amend, simplify, and correct Annex 1 of the mandate, providing a critical window for the leather supply chain to secure its commercial position before the feedback period closes on June 1.

The legislative development centers on a proposed Delegated Act designed to refine the scope of products subject to strict environmental traceability compliance. According to industry data, the public consultation platform has already registered 39 formal submissions from various market participants. Representatives of the tanning sector view the current review mechanism as a vital opportunity to express unified industry endorsement for the explicit exclusion of bovine and ovine by-products from the tracking framework. If successful, the amendment would relieve global leather manufacturers from complex supply-chain transparency requirements that critics argue do not align with the material's status as a secondary agricultural text product.

However, the proposed regulatory relief faces coordinated opposition from environmental organizations and civil society groups. Mr. González-Quijano cautioned that the legislative process remains vulnerable to intensive non-governmental organization lobbying campaigns, which he characterized as relying on fallacious arguments. Industry leadership has formally called on EU co-legislators to resist these external pressures, warning that expanding the regulatory burden to include hides and skins could inadvertently cause severe structural damage to the European tanning infrastructure.

The outcome of this institutional consultation will ultimately dictate the compliance costs and operational parameters for international leather trading hubs. By aligning industry feedback prior to the June deadline, trade advocates intend to demonstrate to Brussels that excluding leather products is essential for regulatory clarity and industrial stability. As the consultation enters its final weeks, the coordinated push underscores a broader legislative struggle to balance the European Union's aggressive climate targets with the economic realities of global manufacturing supply chains.