EU Eases EUDR Rules to Ensure Smooth Rollout by 2025
Brussels – Qahwa World
The European Commission has announced adjustments to the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) aimed at ensuring its timely implementation by 30 December 2025. The changes include lighter reporting requirements, deadline extensions for small businesses, and simplified due diligence obligations to reduce administrative complexity and IT system strain.
The EUDR, which targets commodities linked to deforestation such as coffee, cocoa, palm oil, paper, and wood, will require importers to prove that their products have not contributed to forest degradation anywhere in the world after 31 December 2020. Initially scheduled for December 2024, the regulation was postponed by one year to give coffee producers and other stakeholders additional time to comply.
Under the updated proposal introduced on 21 October 2025, micro and small enterprises will receive an additional 12-month extension to 30 December 2026. Large and medium-sized companies must still meet the 30 December 2025 deadline but will benefit from a six-month grace period for checks and enforcement. To streamline the process, the Commission will now require only a single due diligence statement across a product’s entire supply chain, easing the burden for businesses and simplifying data management within the EU’s internal systems.
The revised framework maintains that “upstream” operators—those first placing regulated commodities on the EU market—will continue to exercise due diligence. “Downstream” operators, typically traders handling products already imported into the EU, will no longer be obligated to submit separate compliance statements.
Environmental groups have cautiously welcomed the move, seeing it as a pragmatic step to avoid further delays, though some have expressed concern that the changes could weaken the regulation’s impact. “We reiterate our call to address the specific challenges millions of smallholders face in producing EUDR-compliant products and the disproportionate burden placed on their shoulders,” the Rainforest Alliance said in a statement.
The WWF offered a stronger critique, calling the decision “a shameful surrender to political pressure.” Anke Schulmeister-Oldenhove, Senior Forest Policy Officer at WWF, said the Commission’s reference to IT system issues “feels like a perfect scapegoat to water down the regulation.”
The proposed amendments will still need formal approval by the European Parliament and the European Council before implementation. If adopted, they would mark a significant shift in how the EU enforces environmental due diligence, with major implications for global trade in deforestation-linked commodities, including coffee.
