Deforestation: The European Parliament postpones the EUDR.

Postponement for another year for all businesses and further simplifications .
The majority in the European Parliament follows the line already approved by the member states, and postpones the EU law on imported deforestation (EUDR) , adopted in 2023 with the aim of fighting climate change and biodiversity loss by preventing deforestation linked to the consumption of cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soy, wood, rubber, charcoal, printed paper and cattle .

FAO estimates that 420 million hectares of forest, an area larger than the EU, were lost to deforestation between 1990 and 2020.
EU consumption is responsible for around 10% of global deforestation .
Palm oil and soy account for more than two-thirds of this share.

The European Parliament's negotiating position on the revision of the regulation proposed by the European Commission was adopted on 26 November by 402 votes in favour, 250 against, and 8 abstentions.

Addressing concerns about the adequate preparation of companies and administrations, the adopted text provides for new dates of entry into force:

• December 30, 2026 : application date for medium and large operators;
• June 30, 2027 : application date for micro and small operators, who benefit from an additional six-month period.

Simplification has focused mainly on the due diligence procedure:

• Responsibility of the first operator: the obligation and responsibility to submit the due diligence declaration falls exclusively on the operator who first places the product on the market;
• Exempted traders : Downstream operators, i.e. traders, are no longer required to submit separate due diligence declarations. Only the first downstream operators will need to retain and communicate the reference number of the initial declaration submitted by the first operator;
• Simplified declaration for the smallest: micro and small primary operators (those who first place the product on the market) will only be able to submit a one-off simplified declaration.

The European Parliament also called for:

• books, printed newspapers and other products of the printing industry are excluded from the scope of the regulation.
• A review of the legislation should be carried out by 30 April 2026 , to assess the impact of the law and its administrative burdens.

The European Parliament and the Council of the EU will now begin negotiations on the final form of the law.
They will presumably be brief, because the aim is to approve the revision by the end of 2025, when the regulation would otherwise come into force.