Pressure from the US and some European capitals has led the EU to delay the implementation of new legislation designed to ban imports of products reliant on ingredients or materials grown on deforested land.
Previous regulations only addressed wood and timber products, but under the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which was set to come into force in December, cocoa, soy, palm oil, cattle and coffee would also be within scope.
The latest iteration decrees that the deadline for medium and large operators and traders will now be 30/06/2026 and SMEs have until 30/12/2026 before reporting is required.
The legislation places a reporting responsibility on EU importers to submit geolocation data for the above products proving that they were not harvested from deforested land. A risk categorisation system means that there will be additional evidence asks for goods originating in medium-risk or high-risk countries.
The legislation has faced ongoing criticism from within the bloc, with 18 member states calling for a simplification of the rules to account for those countries with a ‘negligible risk’. Poland, one of the most vocal EU critics, recently said that a ‘zero-risk’ category must be introduced.
Critics across European capitals and in Washington DC have also argued that small producers should be exempt from reporting and that due diligence obligations should only be placed on the operator placing the goods on the EU market, rather than the entire supply chain.
However, environmental groups have both questioned the reasoning provided by the Commission and expressed disappointment in the lack of “political will” to see the measures implemented.