The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), formally adopted as Regulation (EU) 2023/1115, entered into force on 29th June 2023. It represents a major milestone in the European Union’s commitment to reducing its global contribution to deforestation and forest degradation, underpinned by core policies such as the European Green Deal and the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030.
The EUDR applies to a set of commodities whose production is closely associated with deforestation: cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya, and wood, along with numerous derived products including leather, chocolate, furniture, printed books, and paper. Operators placing these goods on the EU market or exporting them must ensure they are both deforestation-free (i.e., originating from land not deforested or degraded after 31st December 2020) and produced in accordance with the applicable
legal requirements of the country of origin. They must also submit a Due Diligence Statement to the European Commission’s information system.
To register on this system operators who are importing and exporting will require an EORI number. Initially scheduled to become applicable from 30th December 2024, the implementation was deferred by one year in response to stakeholder concerns and system readiness. Under this revised schedule: Large operators and traders must comply from 30th December 2025*. Micro and small enterprises (with the exception of wood products) will have until 30th June 2026 to fully comply.
All regulated operators must exercise due diligence. This has three elements: Information gathering; risk assessment and risk mitigation. This includes supplying geolocation data of production sites, volume and supplier details, and evidence that products have not contributed to deforestation. These requirements are administered via the EU’s dedicated Information System.
Where relevant products have been harvested or grown in a country designated low risk by the European Commission’s ‘risk’ categorisation process, they only need to complete the information gathering aspect under a simplified due diligence protocol available under Article 13 of the regulation. Revenue & Customs will inspect customs declarations to ensure a due diligence reference number is provided. This number is automatically generated when a due diligence statement is submitted by an operator. These statements can cover multiple consignments and apply for up to a year.
Operators are entities who first place a relevant product on the EU market. Traders are other entities along the supply chain who buy and sell the same product. When a product undergoes a ‘substantial transformation’ i.e. wood in the rough turned into furniture that creates a downstream operator, and a downstream operator of this type must also submit a due diligence statement (however they can refer to previous statements).
Traders fall into two categories: Small and Micro enterprises who are not required to exercise due diligence whereas non- SME traders are treated like downstream operators and must submit due diligence statements.
Further information on this regulation is available on the website of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the European Commission website including a detailed set of frequently asked questions, www.agriculture.gov.ie.
- On going to print The Hardware Journal understands that the European Commission wants to push back the start date for the proposed legislation for one year until December. A final decision will be available in the coming weeks.
