Deforestation, agreement among member states on postponement and simplification of EU law

Brussels – A new one-year delay is not enough; the EU law on imported deforestation (EUDR) needs to be simplified. The member states confirm the European Commission’s direction, and even demand to further reduce the administrative burden for companies under the regulation. The Danish presidency of the EU Council managed today (19 November) to secure the capitals’ agreement on a compromise text that comes very close to Sweden’s demands, the most hardline country of all, to remove all obligations on operators downstream of the first importer. 

The application of the law had already been postponed once, in December 2024. Then, in September, the European Commission proposed a new postponement due to technical issues with the software used to record all due diligence statements for the companies involved. At that point, however, last month, Brussels presented a further “targeted revision” of the stringent rules on the import of products that could come from deforestation-prone areas. 

The negotiating mandate for the revision of the regulation approved by the member states introduced a number of changes to the Commission’s proposal to further reduce the administrative burden on operators, in particular small and micro operators. First of all, a new postponement: the law would apply as of 30 December 2026 for medium-sized and large operators and as of 30 June 2027 for micro and small companies. 

Furthermore, the member states require that the obligation and responsibility to submit the required due diligence declaration lie exclusively with the operators who first place the product on the market. All those downstream, up to the traders, would no longer be required to submit such declarations. In addition, small and micro enterprises would only submit a one-off simplified declaration. 

It also passes the request to the European Commission to carry out a simplification review by 30 April 2026 to assess the impact of the EUDR and the administrative burden on operators, in particular small and micro operators, and, if necessary, proceed with further simplifications. 

Based on this mandate, the Council will begin negotiations with the European Parliament to reach a final agreement in the coming weeks, before the current EUDR becomes applicable on 30 December 2025.