Biofuels industry appeals to EU Commission President against premature implementation

With a joint appeal to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a broad alliance of biofuel industry associations is supporting a recently published fire letter from 16 EU member states.
The letter urged the EU Commission to stop the implementation process of the Implementing Regulation and thus also the binding deadline for the application of the Union Data Base (UDB).
Like the member states, the associations criticise the lack of a decisive legal basis for implementation. In addition, many technical implementation problems as well as liability and data protection issues are still unresolved, although the associations have repeatedly pointed this out to the responsible authorities in recent months.
This is all the more annoying given that the UDB is generally regarded in the industry as a useful instrument for greater transparency and security in certification.
However, without the necessary corrections, there is a risk that many first-time producers and traders will withdraw from the trade in sustainable raw materials and that domestic goods will be replaced by imports from third countries.
"This cannot be in line with the EU's climate targets and would also be counteterproductive with regard to the desired sovereignty in energy supply," the associations warn.
The UDB is an EU-wide traceability system for sustainable renewable fuels. Its main purpose is the traceability of renewable fuels, renewable liquid and gaseous fuels of non-biogenic origin and recycled carbonaceous fuels.
It documents the entire life cycle of the fuels and is mandatory for fuel manufacturers, traders, importers and suppliers.
The UDB ensures transparency in the market for renewable fuels, prevents fraud, promotes sustainability and supports the achievement of EU climate targets. This makes the UDB a key instrument for implementing the EU Renewable Energy Directive II in the fuel sector.