In the first vote on environmental matters of its new term, the European parliament agreed on Thursday to delay and water down new rules aiming to ensure that products sold in the European market do not come from deforested land.

The European Parliament voted on Thursday for a 12-month delay to the implementation of a law banning the import of commodities linked to deforestation, and adopted a series of amendments to weaken the law itself.

The European Parliament demanded further changes to a landmark law to tackle global deforestation, adding complications to a plan to delay the controversial rules before they take effect later this year.