EU Deforestation Regulation
EUDR
Definition
The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) — Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 — prohibits placing on the EU market (or exporting from the EU) products made from seven commodities unless operators can demonstrate those commodities were produced on land not deforested after 31 December 2020. Application for large and medium operators begins 30 December 2026, following a delay from the original 2024 deadline.
Covered commodities and derived products
Seven primary commodities: cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya, wood
Derived products include: leather, chocolate, palm oil derivatives, rubber products (tyres, industrial rubber), soy derivatives, timber, paper and paperboard, furniture, plywood
Removed from scope (December 2025 revision, Regulation (EU) 2025/2650): Printed products (books, newspapers, printed pictures).
Three-step due diligence requirement
Operators (and traders, for larger companies) must complete a three-step due diligence process:
- Information collection — GPS polygon coordinates of production plots, country of origin, supplier and producer information, commodity codes and quantities, certifications
- Risk assessment — evaluate risk based on country/region benchmarking (high, standard, or low risk classification published by the Commission), forest coverage, deforestation prevalence, and land rights
- Risk mitigation and due diligence statement — submit a due diligence statement to the EU information system before placing products on the EU market
Simplified pathway (2025 revision): Downstream operators may rely on upstream operators' already-submitted due diligence statements, reducing the burden on companies further along the supply chain.
Compliance timeline
| Category | Application Date |
|---|---|
| Large and medium operators | 30 December 2026 |
| Micro and small operators, for products covered by the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) | 30 December 2026 |
| Other micro and small operators established by 31 December 2024 | 30 June 2027 |
These dates are set in Article 38(2) and (3), as amended.
Maximum penalty: For a legal person, the maximum fine must be at least 4% of its total annual Union-wide turnover in the financial year before the fining decision (Article 25(2)(a)).
Relevance to DPP
EUDR traceability data — GPS coordinates, production origin, deforestation-free certification — can be incorporated into Digital Product Passports for affected product categories (leather goods, furniture, rubber products). As DPP delegated acts for furniture and textiles develop, EUDR provenance data is expected to feed into DPP supply chain traceability fields.
Related terms
- Due Diligence — the methodology EUDR requires for supply chain verification
- Digital Product Passport (DPP) — the data layer that can carry EUDR provenance data
- Circular Economy — the EU policy framework EUDR supports