The European Parliament (the “EU Parliament”) and the Council of the European Union (the “EU Council”) agreed to amend the application date of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (the “EUDR”), postponing it from December 30, 2024 to December 30, 2025.
Both the EU Parliament and the EU Council adopted this amendment in December, 2024, officially extending the application date to December 30, 2025. Given this one-year extension, the competent authorities could demand stricter compliance with the EUDR. Affected companies are advised to implement measures to comply with the EUDR without delay during 2025.
The EUDR (Regulation (EU) 2023/1115) is a regulation that prohibits the import, placing and distribution of certain products associated with deforestation in the EU. It was officially enacted on June 29, 2023, and was initially scheduled to apply from December 30, 2024 onwards.
However, on October 2, 2024, the European Commission proposed to postpone its application date by one year.
On November 14, 2024, the EU Parliament approved this one-year postponement (371 votes in favor, 240 against, 30 abstentions). The EU Council also approved the postponement on November 20, 2024 but expressed its opposition regarding the EU Parliament’s additional proposed amendments to the text of the EUDR (proposed by a member of the European People’s Party (the “EPP”)).
Following the EU Council’s opposition, the European Commission, the EU Council and the EU Parliament representatives entered “trilogue” negotiations, whereby the EU Council and the EU Parliament representatives agreed that the only approved amendments to the EUDR would be the one-year postponement and a minor clarification of the role of the European Commission.
While the EU Parliament agreed to the one-year postponement of the EUDR’s application, proposed by the European Commission, it also proposed its own amendments that sought to water down the application of EUDR. Proposed by Member of the European Parliament Christine Schneider from the EPP, it sought to create a new “no risk” category, whereby the relevant commodities sourced from no risk countries or regions would be exempt from, among others, the requirement to provide geolocation information and the submission of a due diligence statement.
This was not agreed to by the EU Council and consequently, the European Commission, the EU Council and the EU Parliament held their first trilogue meeting on November 21, 2024, but did not reach an agreement. While there was a strong agreement on extending the application date of the EUDR by one year (given how the European Commission’s country risk classification was still incomplete, the Information System was still perceived to be inadequate and some EU countries had not yet designated their competent authorities), no agreement was reached on the creation of the no risk category.
However, following the second trilogue on December 3, the representatives of the EU Council and the EU Parliament agreed to postpone the application of EUDR by one year and additionally incorporate a “minor clarification” on the European Commission’s role, which the EPP requested in return for dropping its proposal on the creation of the no risk category.
These amendments were then officially approved by the EU Council and the EU Parliament. The timeline is detailed below:
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December 17, 2024: EU Parliament vote
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December 18, 2024: EU Council vote and approval
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December 23, 2024: publication in EU Official Journal
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December 26, 2024: amendment takes effect
In light of the official adoption of the one-year postponement of the EUDR’s application, the EUDR will apply from December 30, 2025. The European Commission has said that it will provide more guidance throughout 2025 with additional FAQs (4th FAQ will be available), video materials and webinar sessions.
Given the one-year extension, the competent authorities and EU consumers could demand stricter compliance with the EUDR. Affected companies should implement measures to comply with the EUDR without delay during 2025.
