Kuala Lumpur: Palm oil industrial players have their last chance to prevent the move to phase out palm oil-based biofuels by the European Union if it were to continue the discriminatory path, said the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC).Chief Executive Officer Dr Kalyana Sundram (pic) said as the three EU institutions had internally agreed on their respective position, inter-institutional negotiations, the infamous "trilogue", would convene closed doors.
Trilogue refers to the negotiations between the commission, parliament and council, to agree to a compromise text for the final Renewable Energy Directive (RED) Bill.
"The trilogue negotiations started from end-February 2018.
"While any provisional agreement reached within trilogue is informal and still has to be approved by the formal procedures applicable within the council and the European Parliament, the decision will be taken before anything is made public," he said in a statement.
Kalyana said this is the last chance to prevent the phasing out of palm oil-based biofuels.
He said after that, the only remaining legal avenue would be the recourse to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) dispute settlement system, a set of procedures that are available only to WTO members.
The procedures are costly, time-consuming and riddled with legal, political, diplomatic and commercial intricacies, he added.
"Both the EU and palm oil producing countries should spare themselves from such epilogue, and instead find a negotiated and science-based solution through the joint definition of an internationally recognised multilateral standard for palm oil sustainability," he said.
He said unilateral actions and even more so discriminatory and trade restrictive measures, should be avoided. –Bernama
