Application of EUDR Regulation on deforestation-free products delayed until December 2025
EU Deforestation Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/1115), published in mid-2023, aims to minimize deforestation and forest degradation associated with agricultural raw materials imported into the European Union. It is part of the EU’s biodiversity strategy running to 2030.
Products covered by the Regulation are wood, rubber, cattle, coffee, cocoa, palm oil and soybean or products which require these as part of their manufacture. The EU Commission will evaluate other raw materials with the possibility to extend the scope of this Regulation.
Thus, any operator or trader who places these commodities on the EU market, or exports from it, shall prove that the products do not originate from recently deforested land or have contributed to forest degradation.
Commodities and products covered by the Regulation may not be marketed or exported in or from the EU, unless all the following conditions are fulfilled:
- they are deforestation-free;
- they have been produced in accordance with the relevant legislation of the country of production; and
- they are covered by a Due Diligence Statement (as set out in Annex II)
This new legislation entered into force on 29 June 2023 and was initially scheduled to become applicable on 30 December 2024. However, the EU Parliament and the Council have recently agreed to the Commission’s proposal to delay its application by one year to give companies and authorities more time to better prepare for its implementation.
Once this proposal is adopted, the Regulation will be binding from 30 December 2025 for large operators and traders, while micro- and small companies will have to apply it as of 30 June 2026.
In the meantime, the EU Commission has announced the launch of the EUDR Information System for users to submit and manage Due Diligence Statements in two formats:
- Live server, where documents have legal value and can be checked by the competent authorities: https://eudr.webcloud.ec.europa.eu/tracesnt/
- Training platform: https://acceptance.eudr.webcloud.ec.europa.eu/tracesnt/
In addition, during the end of 2024 and 2025 new virtual training sessions for the EUDR Information System will be regularly published on the webpage: https://green-business.ec.europa.eu/deforestation-regulation-implementation/information-system-deforestation-regulation_en
Further information can be found in:
- Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 on deforestation-free products
- DG Environment - Regulation on Deforestation-free Products
- EU deforestation law: Parliament wants to give companies one more year to comply
- Press Release: Commission welcomes provisional agreement on additional phase-in time for EUDR Regulation