📋 Tender Overview
At todays meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper I), the final compromise text was given to the member states for approval, resulting from the agreement in principle reached at the beginning of the month in tripartite negotiations regarding the proposal for the Forest Reproductive Material (FRM) Regulation. The Republic of Slovenia is critical of some agreed solutions, which is why it abstained from voting.Tree planting | Author: Institute for Forests of Slovenia
On 8 December 2025, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached a provisional agreement on the proposal for a regulation establishing an updated legislative framework for forest reproductive material at the Union level. The purpose of the regulation is to ensure sustainable management of forests, to increase the resistance of forests to climate change and at the same time to support the competitiveness of the European forestry sector.
The agreement introduces the evaluation of the sustainable properties of the material, greater use of innovative and digital tools, and a renewed system of control and traceability, as well as the preparedness of member states for forest crisis situations.
Slovenia estimates that the agreement brings some positive solutions, with which the common position of the EU Council is upgraded, which Slovenia could not support in June 2025. Among other things, it is a voluntary national plan for emergency situations (voluntary and not mandatory), the absence of conditioning of imports from third countries with membership in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) scheme for reproductive material and a five-year transition period.
Despite these steps, Slovenia points out that certain issues are still not adequately addressed. Particular attention should be paid to the uniform application of the rules in the internal market, since the consistent implementation of the regulation in all member states is key to the smooth functioning of the European forestry sector. It is also important to clearly define the role of the competent authorities in issuing the main certificates in order to ensure the legal security and reliability of the certification of forest reproductive material.
Slovenia also draws attention to the possibility of maintaining national control mechanisms, which enable control to be adapted to local conditions and the specific needs of the forestry sector. Here, it is important that the organization of official control takes into account the peculiarities of individual countries and the characteristics of local forests, while at the same time maintaining high standards of quality, biological safety and forest health.
Slovenia emphasizes that further improvements to the agreed text would be necessary to ensure a high level of protection of forest genetic resources, legal security for stakeholders and equal conditions in the internal market, taking full account of the specificities of the forestry sector. For the above reasons, Slovenia abstained from voting.
