EUDR delay: key facts and summary
- European Commission proposes second 12-month delay to EUDR enforcement
- Main reason cited is unready IT systems for due diligence
- EUDR covers soy, palm oil, beef, coffee, cocoa, rubber, wood
- NGOs condemn delay as undermining credibility and protecting industry laggards
- Parliament and Council decision will determine regulation’s final enforcement date
After much speculation, another 12-month delay to the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is looking like a very real possibility.
Today, Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall announced the Commission is seeking postponement. The reason given is not that industry is underprepared, as was suggested when the first 12-month delay was announced, but that IT systems aren’t yet ready.
Under the EUDR, business operators must use these systems to record that proper due diligence has been carried out, confirming that relevant products and commodities were produced without contributing to deforestation. These commodities include soy, palm oil, coffee, beef, cocoa, rubber, and wood.
“We have concerns regarding the IT system, given the amount of information that we put into the system,” she explained.
The Environment Commissioner also repeatedly mentioned moves to simplify the law. Pressure has been mounting on the Commission to add a fourth risk category to its country benchmarking system: negligible risk. The amendment would simplify the legislation for ‘zero risk’ countries.
She has written to co-legislators, including the European Council and Parliament, to discuss next steps, but says she’s hoping they’ll support the Commission’s call for another 12-month delay. Originally, the EUDR was set to be enforced in December 2024, but after an initial delay, it’s now planned to take effect in December 2025.
“I hope that the Council and the European Parliament, the co-legislators, will help us in this – to find the necessary time to get the IT system capacity that we need,” said Commissioner Roswall.
Whether a ‘negligible risk’ category will be introduced is “too early to say”, she told reporters. But confirmed that the proposal to delay is about IT systems only – and not linked to government pressure. In a recent framework agreement penned between the US and EU, it appeared the US was looking to be added to that ‘negligible risk’ category, were it to come into play.
It’s early doors, but the initial response from the sustainability sector is not positive. “Today’s decision is an affront to all those who have worked hard to implement traceability systems and taken measures to ensure smallholders can comply with the regulation,” says Nicole Polsterer, sustainable consumption and production campaigner at NGO Fern.
“Regardless of any IT faults, over the past 12 months, we’ve witnessed a relentless attempt to derail the EUDR. The campaigner believes this is part of a wider battle between those who want to protect the environment, and those ”intent on destroying it”.
Over at another non-profit, Earthsight, director Sam Lawson is equally dismayed. “Yet again, the EU Commission is sacrificing the world’s forests to appease industry laggards. Delaying the law to iron out a few IT problems puts the entire EUDR at risk.”
Earthsight is urging the European Parliament and Council to reject the Commission’s proposal and implement the law by the end of December as planned.
Whether lawmakers side with the Commission or push back will determine the future of the EUDR’s credibility. For now, the regulation’s fate hangs in the balance.