EU Deforestation-Free Regulation: Ambition Meets the Risk of Overreach

Forests are vital ecosystems, and tackling deforestation is an urgent priority. The EU’s Deforestation-Free Regulation (EUDR, Regulation 2023/1115) is its boldest step yet, aiming to ensure that commodities such as cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya, and wood, and a wide range of derived products, are not linked to deforestation or forest degradation.

The intent is clear. The reality for businesses, however, is far more complex. The EUDR demands full product-to-plot traceability, prohibits “mass balance” systems, and requires operators to maintain five years of detailed due diligence records. Large and medium operators must comply by 30 December 2025, with SMEs following by 30 June 2026.

That concern has spread well beyond corporate boardrooms. On 7 July 2025, nineteen EU member states urged the European Commission to simplify the EUDR and delay its application, warning it imposes excessive costs, threatens competitiveness, and could exclude compliant producers in low-deforestation regions. The European Parliament has also called for a “zero-risk” category in the Commission’s May 2025 country-risk benchmarking, arguing the system uses outdated data, lacks transparency, ignores forest degradation, and risks unfairly penalizing low-risk countries.

Despite this growing pushback, businesses cannot afford to wait. The compliance requirements are extensive:

• Mapping your supply chains to plot level

• Collecting and verifying geolocation and legal compliance data

• Assessing and mitigating deforestation risk to a “negligible” level

• Implementing technology for traceability and monitoring

The EUDR will reshape global supply chains. With the right systems and expertise in place, your business can meet its obligations without disruption and even gain a competitive edge in a tightening market.

EUDR compliance is both about avoiding penalties and securing your market access and building sustainable, transparent supply chains that stand the test of Regulation.