EU – On November 26, 2025, the European Parliament announced the renewed postponement of the Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR). The regulation aims to prevent deforestation associated with the EU’s consumption of cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soy, timber, rubber, charcoal, printed paper and beef products.
Following a decision in a previous plenary session to consider a new proposal from the European Commission, Members of Parliament voted to make it easier for companies, global players, as well as EU and non-EU countries to implement the Deforestation Regulation.
Postponement applies for all companies
Companies thus have an additional year to implement the new EU regulation against deforestation. Major market players and distributors now have to comply with the obligations of the regulation from December 30, 2026 onwards. Micro and small enterprises as of June 30, 2027. The additional time is intended to ensure a smooth transition and allow for the implementation of measures to strengthen the IT system used by companies and their representatives for electronic due diligence declarations, the European Parliament stated.
Simplification of the due diligence obligations
According to Parliament, the responsibility for submitting a due diligence declaration should lie with the companies that first place the respective product on the EU market and not with those that subsequently distribute it. The amendments proposed by the Members of Parliament also reduced the obligations for small and micro primary producers, who will only have to submit a single, simplified declaration. Parliament also called for a review of the simplification measures by April 30, 2026.
The proposal was adopted with 402 votes in favour, 250 against and 8 abstentions. Parliament is now ready to begin negotiations with the member states on the final version of the law. This must be approved by Parliament and the Council and published in the Official Journal of the EU before the end of 2025 for the one-year postponement to become effective.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that between 1990 and 2020, around 420 million hectares of forest – an area larger than the EU – were lost to deforestation.
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