Deforestation and forest degradation are acknowledged to be important drivers of climate change and biodiversity loss. Back in 2019, the Commission adopted a Communication entitled “ Stepping up EU Action to Protect and Restore the World’s Forests” an the following year the European Parliament asked the Commission to propose legislation to halt EU-driven global deforestation. In December 2021, the Commission an EU Regulation designed to address deforestation in supply chains for products linked to the EU market.  Political agreement was reached on a final text in December 2022 and the ‘EUDR’ was adopted on 31 May 2023 .

The “EUDR” has the objective of ensuring that certain specified commodities placed on the EU market will no longer contribute to deforestation and forest degradation in the EU and elsewhere in the world. It relies on due diligence as a regulatory tool to ensure that the market access requirement it introduces is effective. 

The current scope covers seven commodities, as well as related derivatives and products: palm oil, cattle, soy, coffee, cocoa, rubber and timber. The derived products include beef, chocolate, furniture, charcoal, and printed paper products. Operators and traders that want to place those products on the EU market or export them will have to prove that the products are both deforestation-free (produced on land that was not subject to deforestation after 31 December 2020) and legal (compliant with all relevant applicable laws in force in the country of production).

Companies will also be required to collect precise geographical information on the farmland where the commodities that they source have been grown, so that these commodities can be checked for compliance. The Regulation includes a mechanism for country benchmarking (to be developed by the Commission), which will “assess countries or parts thereof and their level of risk of deforestation and forest degradation.” An implementing regulation was adopted in May 2025.

In December 2024, on a proposal from the Commission, the EU adopted a Regulation ‘stopping the clock’ and delaying the entry into application of the new rules by a further 12 months. Proposals to simplify the EUDR are now under discussion.