G/TBT/W/641  
 
2 July 2019  
(19-4419) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
 
EUROPEAN UNION - AMENDMENTS TO THE DIREC TIVE 2009/28/EC,  
RENEWABLE ENERGY DIR ECTIVE  
STATEMENT BY INDONESIA  TO THE COMMITTEE ON  TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE  
20 AND 21 JUNE 2019  
The following communication, dated 1 July 2019, is being circulated at the request of the delegation 
of Indonesia . 
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1.  The Government of Indonesia is disappointed with the adoption of Delegated Regulations, 
effective on 12 May 2019, as the implementation of the Amendment of EU Directi ve of Renewable 
Energy. The Delegated Regulation negates all the inputs and considerations provided by the 
Government of Indonesia and other Palm Oil Exporting countries  
2.  The Government of Indonesia received a letter on 3 May 2019 stating that the EU -RED II  and 
Delegated Regulation are not intended to limit the importation of oil palm products to the EU. In 
addition, it was also stated that the technical requirements contained in the Delegated Regulations 
are beyond the scope of the WTO TBT Agreement.  
3.  We be g to differ with the EU on this important issue. The requirements stipulated in the delegated 
regulation are technical  regulations to a product and or group of products which are clearly fall under 
the TBT agreement. Some provisions, such as the 2008 base year determination and determination 
of the annual average rate of expansion of global production areas and the determination of 
production area conversion thresholds above areas with high carbon stocks used as the basis for 
calculating ILUC high and low r isk, are clear indication that these are technical regulations that 
should be met by producers of biodiesels in order to help with EU environmental achievement.  
4.  The structure, design, and expected operation of this standard are expected to discriminate 
biodiesels generated from palm oil against other biodiesel products produced within EU members 
countries, such as rapeseed and sunflower. Moreover, the expected operation of this regulation will 
also curb the demand of palm oil biodiesels and create unnecess ary barriers to trade in contravene 
with the TBT Agreement.  
5.  The RED and Delegated Regulations stated that biofuel feedstocks which have a significant annual 
expansion rate of production areas, the level of consumption will be limited to the consumption lev el 
in 2019. Moreover, vegetable oils that do not meet ILUC criteria will be phased out gradually up to 
0% in 2030. This is certainly a discriminatory practice that violates the National Treatment principle 
(article III: 4) and general elimination of quanti tative restriction (article XI: 1) GATT and articles 2.1 
and 2.2 of TBT Agreement.  
6.  The EU continued denial that this issue is fall under TBT Agreement is alarming and threatening 
the credibility of TBT Committee. Moreover, it is also threatened the credibi lity of EU Proposal on 
Procedures to Enhance Transparency and Strengthen Notification Requirements. If, pragmatically, 
members start denying that a de facto standard or technical regulation is not a standard or technical 
regulation under the TBT Agreement,  all the STCs in this committee would need to be decided by 
the Dispute Settlement Body.  G/TBT/W/641  
 
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  7.  In addition, Indonesia firmly believes that any weighting on the sustainability issues should not 
covers only deforestation. It shall also take into account the overal l aspect of sustainable 
development which include environmental, social, and economic aspect. This is a global commitment 
under Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030, of which the EU has committed to and shall 
obliged to.  
8.  The palm oil crops have a very high productivity. It produces up to 10 times more compared to 
other vegetable oils with a smaller land use rate. EU intention to phase out of palm oil biodiesel will 
only increase sharply the demand for other vegetable oils which will lead to massive la nd clearing. 
Due to this reason, we expect the EU to review the policy of limiting the use of palm oil to prevent 
further environmental degradation.  
 
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