The European Parliament has agreed to postpone the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) – which will ensure products sold in the EU are not sourced from deforested land – by one year.
The deforestation regulation, set to affect coffee farmers across the world, has been in force since 29 June 2023 and its provisions were to be applied from 30 December 2024.
In October 2024, the European Commission proposed a 12-month postponement for the application of the EUDR to allow companies more time to align their operations with upcoming requirements, while the work on deforestation commitments continues.
On 14 November, the European Parliament agreed to the postponement as well as other amendments with 371 votes to 240 and 30 abstentions.
As a result, large operators and traders will have to respect the obligations stemming from this regulation as of 30 December 2025, whereas micro- and small enterprises will have until 30 June 2026.
This additional time is designed to help operators around the world to implement the rules smoothly from the start without undermining the objectives of the law.
Parliament also adopted other amendments proposed by the political groups, including the creation of a new category of countries posing “no risk” on deforestation in addition to the existing three categories of “low”, “standard” and “high” risk. Countries classified as “no risk”, defined as countries with stable or increasing forest area development, will face significantly less stringent requirements as there is a negligible or non-existent risk of deforestation.
The Commission will have to finalise a country benchmarking system by 30 June 2025.
The EU deforestation regulation, adopted by the European Parliament on 19 April 2023, aims to fight climate change and biodiversity loss by preventing the deforestation related to EU consumption of products from cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm-oil, soya, wood, rubber, charcoal and printed paper.
The EU Parliament has referred this file back to committee for interinstitutional negotiations. In order for these changes to be enforced, the agreed text will have to be endorsed by both Council and Parliament and published in the EU Official Journal.
