Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 on products associated with deforestation and forest degradation (‘EUDR’) will apply to most of the economic operators concerned from 30 December 2026.
For certain individuals, micro-enterprises and small enterprises established as such by 31 December 2024, the main obligations apply from 30 June 2027, except for products that were already covered by Regulation (EU) No 995/2010 on wood.
For commercial entities, this deadline does not just represent the introduction of a new reporting obligation. In practice, the EUDR introduces conditions that must be met for certain products to be introduced, made available on the European Union market or exported.
Therefore, companies should check in advance whether the products they import, trade in, process or export fall within the scope of the EUDR and what specific obligations they are subject to.
The EUDR is not aimed exclusively at companies in the forest industry. The Regulation may affect importers, producers, processors, dealers, retailers and exporters dealing with products associated with the seven relevant categories: cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soya and forest wood.
- What should economic operators keep in mind regarding the products they trade?
The application of the EUDR is not determined only by the raw material from which the product is made.
Companies must check, for each product traded, the customs code and whether it is included in Annex I to the Regulation.
Annex I defines the specific products covered by the EUDR. In the case of timber, for example, this includes not only raw timber but also numerous derived products, such as certain wooden articles, paper and cardboard, furniture or prefabricated buildings.
Therefore, a company should carry out a product-level analysis:
product placed on the market → CN code → check Annex I → determine whether the EUDR applies.
Only if the product falls within the scope of Annex I should the analysis of EUDR obligations continue.
This check is also important for companies trading in highly diversified product portfolios, as some products may fall within the scope of the Regulation whilst others do not.
- What conditions must the products meet?
Under the EUDR, relevant products may not be placed on or made available on the Union market, nor may they be exported, unless they cumulatively fulfil three conditions:
- they do not involve deforestation;
- they have been produced in compliance with the relevant legislation of the country of production;
- they are covered by a Due Diligence Statement (DDS)or, in the specific cases provided for by the Regulation, by a simplified declaration.
Regarding the deforestation criterion, the reference date is 31 December 2020. In principle, relevant products must not be derived from raw materials obtained from land that has been deforested after that date. For wooden products, there is an additional requirement concerning forest degradation.
- What obligations will economic operators have?
A company that places a relevant product on the Union market or exports it for the first time is, in principle, classified as an operator.
Under the EUDR, the operator is required to exercise due diligence prior to placing the product on the market or exporting it. If the product is non-compliant, if the assessment indicates a risk that cannot be considered negligible, or if the operator is unable to fulfil their due diligence obligations, the product may not be placed on the market or exported.
- Where and by whom is the DDS submitted?
The due diligence statement is submitted by the operator, before placing the relevant product on the market or before exporting it.
The DDS is submitted electronically via the EUDR IT system administered by the European Commission, which is integrated into the TRACES platform.
By submitting the DDS, the operator confirms that they have carried out the due diligence procedure and that they have identified either no risk or only a negligible risk of non-compliance.
The declaration contains, amongst other things, the operator’s details, the product code, the quantity, the country of manufacture and the geolocation of the relevant parcels.
Downstream operators and traders do not, as a rule, submit a new DDS for each product already covered upstream, but must ensure traceability and retain the references to the relevant declarations.
- What happens to products already placed on the market before 30 December 2026?
Relevant products that were placed on the EU market before 30 December 2026 do not need to be subject to EUDR formalities just because they are marketed after that date.
However, companies marketing them after 30 December 2026 must be able to demonstrate, through conclusive and traceable documentation, that those products were actually placed on the market before the date the Regulation applies.
For this reason, companies holding existing stocks at the time the EUDR comes into force should keep clear records showing the date of placing on the market – for example, commercial documents, customs documents, invoices or other records that allow the relevant date to be established unequivocally.
- What penalties apply?
The EUDR requires Member States to establish effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties.
For legal persons, the maximum fine must be at least 4 per cent of the total annual turnover achieved within the Union in the financial year preceding the decision to impose the penalty, and this amount may be increased to exceed the economic benefit derived from the infringement.
However, sanctions are not limited to financial penalties. The Regulation also provides for:
- confiscation of the relevant products;
- confiscation of the revenuederived from transactions involving those products;
- temporary exclusion, for a maximum of 12 months, from public procurement procedures and from access to public funding, including loans and grants;
- a temporary ban on placing relevant products on the market or making them available, or on exporting them, in the event of serious or repeated infringements;
- a ban on using the simplified due diligence procedure in the event of serious or repeated infringements.
In addition, the authorities may require measures such as the withdrawal or recall of non-compliant products from the market.
Conclusion
For businesses, the first step must be to review their product portfolio against the CN codes and Annex I to the Regulation. Next, they must identify their role within each supply chain and determine their specific obligations as an operator, downstream operator or trader.
The companies concerned should use the time remaining until the EUDR comes into force to check their suppliers, contracts, traceability systems, documentation on the origin of products and internal compliance procedures.
In practice, the main difficulty will not be completing the DDS declaration, but the company’s ability to obtain and document the necessary information from across the entire supply chain in a timely manner.
From this perspective, the EUDR must be treated not merely as an environmental obligation, but as a condition for accessing and maintaining the relevant products on the European Union market.