EU maintains Deforestation Regulation implementation date

The European Commission has submitted a proposal to simplify the implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and deal with expected IT challenges – but the plan does not involve another delay.

The Commission warned in September that the IT system put in place to help companies meet their compliance obligations might not be robust enough to handle the information load expected upon implementation.

At the time, it considered delaying the regulation by another year –  an option that sparked backlash among the business community, which has been preparing for EUDR compliance since 2024. 

Only one due diligence statement per product

But in a proposal submitted this week the Commission offers other avenues to simplify implementation and reduce the data load on the IT system: for instance, it proposes that downstream operators and traders should no longer be obliged to submit due diligence statements, meaning only one submission in the EUDR IT system will be required at the entry point in the market, for the entire supply chain.

Under this arrangement, cocoa beans for instance would need only one due diligence statement to be submitted by the importer placing them on the EU market, while downstream manufacturers of chocolate products would not be required to submit a new statement.

In addition, the Commission is proposing a grace period of six months for large operators required to comply from December 30, 2025. Small companies would only have to comply from December 2026.

‘A robust compromise’

The compromise has been generally welcomed by the sustainability community, which is now urging the European Council and Parliament to approve the proposal.

Stientje van Veldhoven, Vice President and Regional Director for Europe of World Resources Institute, said: “While no tampering would have been preferable, this approach is far better than delaying enforcement another year or gutting the regulation, as some have called for. This package could strike a robust compromise: businesses that have already invested won't see their efforts wasted, and those betting on future delays will not be rewarded.”