The European Commission has introduced a series of simplifications and updated guidance documents to support the implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which comes into force at the end of this year. The move aims to reduce administrative burdens and ensure harmonised application of the regulation across Member States, while addressing concerns raised by international partners and industry stakeholders.
The Commission’s latest updates include a revised Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document and detailed guidance to help companies, Member State authorities and trading partners demonstrate compliance with the regulation’s core requirement: ensuring that goods placed on the EU market are deforestation-free.
A Delegated Act published for public consultation provides further clarification on the regulation’s scope, including product categories, responding directly to stakeholder requests. These measures are expected to reduce compliance-related administrative costs by an estimated 30%, according to the Commission.
Key simplification measures include:
- Allowing large companies to reuse existing due diligence statements when reimporting goods previously placed on the EU market;
- Permitting authorised representatives to submit statements on behalf of group members;
- Introducing the option to submit due diligence statements annually instead of for each shipment;
- Clarifying the obligation for downstream companies, allowing simplified compliance through reference to supplier due diligence statements.
These updates are designed to streamline the data entry process for businesses and address long-standing calls from industry for more efficient compliance mechanisms.
The Commission also announced that the finalisation of the country benchmarking system—used to assess the deforestation risk of origin countries—is underway and will be adopted by 30 June 2025 via an Implementing Act.
Since 2024, the Commission has held over 300 stakeholder meetings and more than 50 online training sessions, involving 15,500 participants, to support implementation efforts. It has also launched multilingual training materials and a dedicated Information System, open since December 2024, to facilitate due diligence submissions.
Support for partner countries has been reinforced through the EUR 86 million Team Europe Initiative on Deforestation-Free Value Chains, which aims to help producer nations transition to sustainable and legal supply chains.
Even ahead of its full application, the EUDR has already led to greater transparency in global supply chains and encouraged both public and private sectors to adopt more sustainable practices.
