Assessment of countries
Article 29
1. This Regulation establishes a three-tier system for the assessment of countries or parts thereof. For that purpose, Member States and third countries, or parts thereof, shall be classified into one of the following risk categories: (a) ‘high risk’ refers to countries or parts thereof, for which the assessment referred to in paragraph 3 results in the identification of a high risk of producing in such countries or in parts thereof, relevant commodities for which the relevant products do not comply with Article 3, point (a); (b) ‘low risk’ refers to countries or parts thereof, for which the assessment referred to in paragraph 3 concludes that there is sufficient assurance that instances of producing in such countries or in parts thereof, relevant commodities for which the relevant products do not comply with Article 3, point (a), are exceptional; (c) ‘standard risk’ refers to countries or parts thereof which do not fall in either the category ‘high risk’ or the category ‘low risk’. 2. On 29 June 2023, all countries shall be assigned a standard level of risk. The Commission shall classify countries or parts thereof, that present a low or high risk in accordance with paragraph 1. The list of the countries or parts thereof, that present a low or high risk shall be published by means of implementing acts to be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 36(2), no later than 30 December 2024. That list shall be reviewed, and updated if appropriate, as often as necessary in light of new evidence. 3. The classification of low-risk and high-risk countries or parts thereof, pursuant to paragraph 1 shall be based on an objective and transparent assessment by the Commission, taking into account the latest scientific evidence and internationally recognised sources. The classification shall be based primarily on the following assessment criteria: (a) rate of deforestation and forest degradation; (b) rate of expansion of agriculture land for relevant commodities; (c) production trends of relevant commodities and of relevant products. 4. The assessment referred to in paragraph 3 may also take into account: (a) information submitted by the country concerned, regional authorities concerned, operators, NGOs and third parties, including indigenous peoples, local communities and civil society organisations, with regard to the effective covering of emissions and removals from agriculture, forestry and land use in the nationally determined contribution to the UNFCCC; (b) agreements and other instruments between the country concerned and the Union and/or its Member States that address deforestation and forest degradation and facilitate compliance of relevant commodities and relevant products with Article 3 and their effective implementation; (c) whether the country concerned has national or subnational laws in place, including in accordance with Article 5 of the Paris Agreement, and takes effective enforcement measures to tackle deforestation and forest degradation, and to avoid and penalise activities leading to deforestation and forest degradation and in particular whether it applies penalties of sufficient severity to deprive of the benefits accruing from deforestation or forest degradation; (d) whether the country concerned makes relevant data available transparently; and, if applicable, the existence, compliance with, or effective enforcement of laws protecting human rights, the rights of indigenous peoples, local communities and other customary tenure rights holders; (e) sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council or the Council of the European Union on imports or exports of the relevant commodities and relevant products. 5. The Commission shall engage in a specific dialogue with all countries that are, or risk to be classified as, high risk, with the objective to reduce their level of risk. 6. Without prejudice to paragraph 5, the Commission shall formally notify the country concerned of its intention to classify that country or a part thereof to a different risk category and invite it to provide any information deemed useful in that regard. The Commission shall also inform the competent authorities of such intention. The Commission shall include the following information in the notification: (a) the reason or reasons for the intention to change the risk classification of the country or parts thereof; (b) the invitation to respond to the Commission in writing with regard to the intention to changing the risk classification of the country or parts thereof; (c) the consequences of its classification as a high or low risk country. 7. The Commission shall allow the country concerned sufficient time to reply to the notification. Where the notification concerns an intention on the part of the Commission to classify the country or a part thereof to a higher risk, in its reply, the country concerned may provide the Commission with information on measures taken by it to remedy the situation. 8. The Commission shall, without delay, notify the country concerned and the competent authorities of inclusion or removal of a country, or parts thereof, from the list referred to in paragraph 2.