“The EU is a large consumer and trader of commodities that play a substantial part in deforestation — like beef, cocoa, soy and timber,” said Marian Jurečka, the environment minister of the Czech Republic, which negotiated on behalf of the 27 EU member countries.“Protecting the environment around the world, including forests and rainforests, is a common goal for all countries and the EU is ready to take its responsibility,” Jurečka said.Under the law, companies will be required to issue a due diligence statement verifying that goods they import into the EU market don’t come from deforested land and have not led to forest degradation anywhere in the world after Dec. 31, 2020.“As a major trading bloc, the EU will not only change the rules of the game for consumption within its borders, but will also create a big incentive for other countries fueling deforestation to change their policies.” By requiring companies to invest in addressing deforestation and forest degradation in their supply chains as a requirement for access to the EU market, the law will raise the bar for the agricultural sector, according to Helen Bellfield, policy director at U.K.-based NGO Global Canopy.To ensure compliance, EU member states will be required to carry out checks covering 9% of companies exporting from countries with a high risk of deforestation, 3% from standard-risk countries and 1% for low-risk countries."