Approval for EUDR delay and for new ‘no risk’ classification
The European Parliament has voted in favour of a one-year extension to the deadline for compliance with the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
Larger companies will now have until December 30, 2025, to comply, while smaller enterprises will have until June 30, 2026.
Members of the European Parliament voted to approve the extension during a plenary session in Brussels on November 14. There were 371 votes in favour of delaying EUDR’s application, but 240 members of the parliament voted against and 40 abstained.
EUDR will impose strict traceability obligations on companies in the European Union (EU) using products from seven commodity groups. The EU says its aim is to make sure there is no link to deforestation from consumption in the EU of materials from the seven commodity groups. These include bovine leather and hides.
These obligations will apply to products and materials from any country, but the parliament has also approved another change that should make EUDR implementation easier from companies sourcing from suppliers in countries where deforestation is not a problem.
There will now a new category of countries that pose ‘no risk’ of deforestation in addition to the previously announced categories of ‘low’, ‘standard’ and ‘high’ risk. Countries can be classified as ‘no risk’ if they have stable or increasing forest area development. EU companies using hides or leather from ‘no risk’ countries will face “significantly less stringent requirements” to comply with EUDR, the European Parliament said.
It added that a country benchmarking system will be complete by June 30, 2025.
