Commission proposes targeted measures to ensure the timely implementation of EU Deforestation Regulation

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

The Commission is today proposing targeted solutions to support companies, global stakeholders, third countries and Member States to ensure a smooth implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) [will be uploaded shortly]. 

With today’s proposal, the Commission wants to make sure that the IT system is fully operational to address the EU’s contribution to the global challenge of deforestation. At the same time, the proposal will simplify reporting obligations, notably for micro and small primary operators from low risk countries worldwide, while maintaining a robust tracking mechanism.

The EUDR is a key initiative to fight deforestation. The Commission is committed to pursuing its objectives.

Key measures

Taking into account feedback from stakeholders in the context of the Commission’s simplification efforts throughout the year, the Commission proposal introduces targeted simplifications to reduce obligations for:

• Operators and traders that commercialise the relevant EUDR products once they have been placed on the EU market. These can be, for example, retailers or large EU manufacturing companies. These companies are in the downstream part of the relevant value chains. The upstream operator will continue to exercise due diligence.
• Micro and small primary operators from low-risk countries worldwide who sell their goods directly on the European market. These cover close to 100% of farmers and foresters in the EU.

To allow for a more efficient use of the IT system, the Commission proposes that downstream operators and traders should no longer be obliged to submit due diligence statements. With this streamlining, only one submission in the EUDR IT system at the entry point in the market will be required for the entire supply chain. The reporting obligations and the responsibility would be focused on the operators placing first the products on the market. For example, cocoa beans would need only one due diligence statement to be submitted by the importer placing them on the EU market, but downstream manufacturers of chocolate products will not be required to submit a new due diligence statement in the IT system.

With the meaningful simplification proposed today, micro and small primary operators would only submit a simple, one-off declaration in the EUDR IT system. When the information is already available, for instance in a Member State database, the operators do not have to take any action in the IT System themselves. This simplification replaces the previous need for regular submissions of due diligence statements.

Transitional period for companies to strengthen the IT system

The Commission is also proposing transitional periods to guarantee a smooth transition and strengthen the IT system.

Concretely this means that the EUDR will enter into application on 30 December 2026 for micro- and small enterprises. For large and medium companies, the date remains 30 December 2025 but to ensure a gradual phase-in of the rules, they will benefit from a grace period of six months for checks and enforcement.

The Commission has been deploying the IT system in close cooperation with stakeholders, as foreseen in the legislation, since its launch in December 2024. In the context of this dialogue, new projections on the number of expected operations and interactions between economic operators and the IT system have led to a substantial reassessment of the projected load on the IT system – being much higher than anticipated. The system must be capable of handling all due diligence statements for products covered by the law and submitted by all operators.

The new entry into application dates, combined with the simplification of obligations for supply chain actors aims to ensure that the IT system can sustain the level of expected loads.

The Commission is also working on contingency plans, so that economic operators can comply with their obligations, should this legal proposal not be adopted in time by the co-legislators, in which case the EUDR will enter into application on 30 December 2025.

Next steps

The European Parliament and the Council will now discuss the Commission’s proposal. They would need to formally adopt the targeted amendment of the EU Deforestation Regulation before it can come into effect.

The Commission calls on the European Parliament and the Council to swiftly adopt the proposal for an extended implementation period by the end of year 2025. 

Background

The EU Deforestation Regulation aims to ensure that a set of key goods placed on the EU market will no longer contribute to deforestation and forest degradation in the EU and elsewhere in the world. Deforestation and forest degradation are important drivers of climate change and biodiversity loss — the two key environmental challenges of our time. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that 420 million hectares of forest — an area larger than the European Union — were lost to deforestation between 1990 and 2020. Based on 2015–2020 deforestation rates, every minute three times the surface of the Parc Léopold bordering the European Parliament in Brussels.

Since the entry into force of the EUDR in June 2023, the Commission has consistently worked with stakeholders on how to facilitate a simple, fair and cost-efficient implementation of the EUDR. Over the past years, the Commission has focused on setting up all the necessary infrastructure for the EUDR to enter into application, notably through additional Guidance and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) documents published in April 2025, as well as in the Benchmarking Implementing Regulation published in May 2025.

The Commission has also undertaken a simplification effort from different angles, which, according to estimations, would lead to 30% reduction of administrative costs and burden for companies.

In December 2024  the European Union granted a 12-month additional phasing-in period, making the law applicable on 30 December 2025 for large and medium companies and 30 June 2026 for micro and small enterprises.

For more information

Development and update of guidance documents and the setting up and opening of the IT system