Today, the Council’s presidency and the European Parliament’s representatives reached a provisional political agreement on a targeted revision of the EU regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR). The aim is to simplify the implementation of the existing rules and postpone their application to allow operators, traders and authorities to prepare adequately. Following concerns from member states and stakeholders about the readiness of companies and administrations, as well as about technical issues related to the new information system, the co-legislators supported the Commission’s targeted simplification of the due diligence process. The co-legislators also removed the ‘grace period’ initially proposed by the Commission for large and medium companies, opting instead for a clear extension of the application date for all operators until 30 December 2026, with an extra six-month cushion for micro and small operators. Main elements of the agreementThe mandates of both institutions were highly similar in postponing the application of the regulation and introducing further simplification measures, focusing on reducing administrative burdens while preserving the objectives of the regulation. Under the agreement, the obligation and responsibility to submit the required due diligence statement will fall exclusively on the operators who first place the product on the market. The co-legislators have agreed that only the first downstream operator in the supply chain will be responsible for collecting and retaining the reference number of the initial due diligence statement, rather than passing it on further down the chain. The simplified declaration for micro and small primary operators was also clarified. These operators will only submit a one-time simplified declaration and will receive a declaration identifier, which will be sufficient for traceability purposes. Furthermore, both co-legislators underlined the importance of ensuring continued exchange with experts, stakeholders and all relevant operators on the implementation of the EUDR. This should take place within the existing framework of the Commission expert group multi-stakeholder platform on protecting and restoring the world’s forests. Both institutions also agreed to require competent authorities to report significant IT system disruptions to the Commission to ensure the smooth functioning of the system, but with flexibility to minimise administrative burdens. In an effort to further reduce administrative burden, the co-legislators also agreed to remove certain printed products (such as books, newspapers, printed pictures) from the scope of the regulation, reflecting the limited deforestation risk associated with these items. The European Commission has been tasked by both co-legislators with conducting a simplification review and presenting a report by 30 April 2026. The report should evaluate the impact and administrative burden of the EUDR, particularly for smaller operators, and indicate ways to address the identified issues, including through guidelines and improvements to the information system. The report should, where appropriate, be accompanied by a legislative proposal. Next stepsThe provisional agreement will now have to be endorsed and formally adopted by both institutions before entering into force, replacing the current EUDR. BackgroundThe regulation on deforestation-free products entered into force in June 2023 with the aim of ensuring that certain commodities, such as cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya and wood, and their derived products placed on or exported from the EU market have not caused deforestation or forest degradation. Its main provisions were initially due to apply from 30 December 2024. Following concerns raised by member states, third countries, traders and operators about readiness, an initial one-year postponement was adopted in December 2024. Asa result, the current EUDR becomes applicable as of 30 December 2025. The new amendment, proposed by the Commission in October 2025, responds to continuing implementation challenges, in particular the need to ensure the effective functioning of the EU information system and alleviate administrative burdens for smaller operators.
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