July 21, 2025
The European Commission has concluded discussions over fraud allegations regarding biodiesel imports from China and maps out actions to ensure sustainability of biofuels.
According to the statement, the European Commission has completed its review of alleged fraud involving biodiesel imports from China, reported by German authorities in 2023. While systemic weaknesses in certification audits were identified and are being addressed, the Commission found insufficient evidence to confirm fraud. However, Germany may conduct further investigations if desired.
More actions to ensure the sustainability of biofuels
- To tackle the risk of fraud in the biofuels market, the Commission is undertaking a range of actions in the short and medium term, in particular in areas where the Implementing Regulation on sustainability certification (EU/2022/996) can be further strengthened.
- The Commission has set up a working group with EU countries under the Committee on the Sustainability of Biofuels, Bioliquids, and Biomass Fuels to reflect on a revision of the legal text. The working group has made good progress on additional measures that could better prevent fraud in the future. The Commission plans to finalise the text, after input from stakeholders, in cooperation with EU countries, in early 2026.
- Furthermore, the Commission is discussing with EU countries on a timeline for the full mandatory deployment of the Union database for biofuels. This EU global traceability system is functional and is being used by an increasing number of operators but its mandatory systemic use by all relevant businesses is a pre-condition for its success.
- The Commission will also continue its technical work on fraud prevention and effective sustainability certification to support the voluntary schemes with the implementation of the existing rules. These rules can tackle many of the identified cases if correctly and harmoniously applied by the certification bodies.
Furthermore, this work stream is supported by the review of the current standards of voluntary schemes in cooperation with the European co-operation for Accreditation and the accreditation bodies of the EU countries as part of the implementation of the new accreditation rules [under Article 11(1) of the Implementing Regulation on certification] by the end of 2025.
On the basis of the review of the current standards and the experience from examining the alleged fraud cases, the Commission may request voluntary schemes to adopt and implement action plans or review the implementation of already existing plans on fraud prevention.
