Can't see the wood for the trees? Wondering what you should do now that EUDR might be delayed?
The EU Deforestation Regulation is nothing new, but despite guidance and a help website from the European Commission, questions on practical application (and even geographical scope) remain.
This article provides an update on the possibility of delay (and simplification), a high-level view of the regulation, and areas where the guidance has helped to simplify.
When does EUDR apply? Will it be delayed?
Regulation 2023/1115 (EUDR) was first meant to apply to non-SMEs in December 2024. Following significant pushback from industry, the application was delayed at the 11th hour.
As it stands, the requirements apply on:
- 30 December 2025 for large and medium companies; and
- 30 June 2026 for micro and small.
But the certainty did not last for long – in September 2025, the Environment Commissioner wrote to the European Parliament to request a further delay of a year. Some of the reasoning provided was that the EUDR IT systems would be overwhelmed, and because some businesses were still unsure of how to comply.
It is highly likely that we will see a delay given this was requested by the Environment Commissioner. However, this suggested delay is not in the law despite some media reports suggesting it is official - you will still need to comply by December this year (or June next year if you are an SME) until we see this officially adopted by the EU institutions.
Now is not the time to stop – we've seen many businesses only now start to take EUDR seriously, and if you are just starting to get to grips with EUDR then will need the full year (if there is a delay) to work towards compliance.
If you need some help in determining if EUDR applies to you and your products, you can use this article as a starting point.
Will we see 'simplification'?
Simplification is the order of the day (or year) in the EU, and we have already seen a range of sustainability related regulation hugely stripped back. EUDR is no exception – although it hasn't yet been confirmed, the Environment Commissioner made it clear that as well as looking at delay, the European institutions will be considering ways the law could be simplified.
What is EUDR?
The problem EUDR set to tackle is neatly summarised in the law's preamble; "Deforestation and forest degradation are taking place at an alarming rate… being drivers of global warming and biodiversity loss".
What causes this? According to the EU, "union consumption is a considerable driver of deforestation". The EUDR seeks to tackle this consumption with an overarching prohibition:
"Relevant commodities and relevant products shall not be placed or made available on the market or exported, 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."
What are 'relevant commodities' and 'relevant products'?
The EUDR does not apply to all products. The first step to determining if you are in scope is checking if your business deals with relevant commodities or products.
The relevant products in scope are listed in the right-hand side of Annex I. To be in scope, those products must "contain, have been fed with or have been made using relevant commodities". These commodities are listed down the left-hand side of Annex I:
- Cattle
- Cocoa
- Coffee
- Oil palm
- Rubber
- Soya
- Wood
Lastly, it must be considered if any exceptions apply to your products which might be available in relation to packaging, and products made entirely of waste.
What activities does EUDR apply to?
Where you have determined you have in scope products, you next need to consider if you are placing these or making them available on the EU market or exporting them from the EU. Movement (e.g. a movement of the product from a non-EU country to an EU country) can be an indication that you have.
However, the movement is not necessarily when the making available/placing on the market occurs. This can be crucial in determining:
- Who is responsible; and
- When they are responsible.
These concepts ("making available" and "placing on" the market) are commonly used in product law; if these are not familiar to you, please do get in touch for practical advice on how you can determine whether you are undertaking these activities.
How must you show you are not breaching the prohibition?
Where you have determined that you have in scope products, and are undertaking in scope activities, businesses must:
- Exercise due diligence (DD);
- Submit DD statements to the EC's Information System, containing a range of detailed information; and
- Keep records of statements and information.
Practically, this can be a huge task. To be able to exercise DD and submit a statement with all the relevant information, a significant range of information must be collected from your suppliers.
Do I always need to 'exercise' due diligence?
Not all entities will need to 'exercise' due diligence. In some scenarios, where due diligence has already been completed by an upstream supplier, you can then 'ascertain' that due diligence has been undertaken.
The more recent EU FAQs/guidance gives more clarity on what it means to 'ascertain', suggest that this can be as simple as collecting due diligence statements and validating it in the EUDR Information System.
Guidance is clear, however, that in-scope entities always retain responsibility for making sure they are compliant – if there are any doubts that due diligence up the supply chain is insufficient, you will be expected to make sure its conducted and the products in question are suitably deforestation free.
Will I always need to collect and hold the huge range of information required under EUDR?
Although the EUDR legislation itself gives little leeway for this (and requires in-scope entities to collect and hold a significant range of information), the FAQs/guidance have again provided a more practical approach. They make clear that for certain entities where due diligence is already undertaken upstream (and a statement is already submitted) you can assume that the supplying entity holds all the relevant information.
You should always check if this simplification applies to you, or whether you will need to hold the information regardless (for example, if your buyers request it for their own compliance purposes).
The NI Question: does it apply?
We recommend planning for EUDR to apply in Northern Ireland. Sadly, neither the European Commission or UK government have confirmed if this will actually be the case. Under the Windsor Framework agreement, legally EUDR applies in Northern Ireland because it is a regulation which repeals and replaces the UK Timber Regulations.
However, no enforcing authority has been appointed in Northern Ireland. The EU and UK authorities have been discussing it's application behind the scenes but have made no public statement on what they expect.
If you have any questions on the above and how it may impact your business, please contact Dominic Watkins or Kirsty Poots.
