TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsIndonesia seeks suspension of concessions against EU in palm oil dispute
WTO experts in January 2025 largely upheld EU restrictions on the use of palm oil in biofuels following complaints by Indonesia.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Seeds of wealth: A worker unloads palm oil seeds from a pickup truck on July 10, 2024 after bringing them from a plantation to sell at a market in Sepaku, East Kalimantan. (AFP/Yasuyoshi Chiba)
I
ndonesia will file for a suspension of concessions against the European Union at the World Trade Organization's (WTO) dispute settlement body over a palm oil case, Trade Minister Budi Santoso said Saturday.
The move was taken after the 27-member bloc failed to meet a deadline to adjust its policy based on the WTO body's ruling and recommendation in a palm oil dispute case, the Trade Ministry said in a statement.
WTO experts in January 2025 largely upheld EU restrictions on the use of palm oil in biofuels following complaints by Indonesia.
Trade Minister Budi Santoso said the suspension of concessions would be focused on goods, but added Indonesia was "open" to asking the dispute settlement body permission to apply the measure to other sectors.
"We will ensure that the losses are accurately calculated and the case is handled effectively while simultaneously maintaining bilateral relations with the EU," Budi said in a statement.
The dispute concerns the EU Renewable Energy Directive of 2018 (RED II), which limited the eligibility of crop-based biofuels to count towards member states' renewable energy targets, and phased out the eligibility of palm oil-based biofuels altogether by 2030.
The EU has deemed that the production of palm oil is not sustainable.
Indonesia took the move to safeguard its rights in the future if the EU could not adhere to the WTO panel's ruling, Budi said. He did not specify which obligations the EU had failed to comply with.
Suspension of concessions is a temporary trade sanction which, under the WTO dispute settlement body, can be filed against another WTO member to enforce compliance with a dispute ruling.
In 2019, Indonesia, the world's leading producer of palm oil, requested an expert panel review of the EU restrictions.
