EUDR – Regulation on Deforestation-free Products
Why EUDR is being implemented
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), around 420 million hectares of forest between 1990 and 2020 – an area larger than the European Union – has been lost worldwide. On top of that, due to increases in global consumption, the deforestation rate is expected to rise even further in the upcoming years. As EU is one of the world’s largest consumers of raw materials, the European Parliament has taken on the challenge of regulating the commercialisation of products linked to deforestation. To achieve this, they have extended the already enforced EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) to include other products such as palm oil, soy, cocoa, coffee, cattle, and rubber. The focus of this extension is to ensure not only the legal harvest of these products but also their deforestation-free status, resulting in EU Deforestation Regulation.
The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) aims to reduce the impact of products consumed in the EU on the world’s forests and wooded areas, ultimately cutting down greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss.
FAQ
- See the full list of commodities in Annex I of the Regulation
- Only products that are listed in Annex I and made of or containing a commodity listed in Annex I are subject to the Regulation.
- Products not listed in Annex I are not subject to the Regulation, even if they contain commodities listed in Annex I. For example, soap will not be covered by the Regulation, even if it contains palm oil.
- Products listed in Annex I that do not contain, or are not made of, a commodity listed in Annex I are not subject to the Regulation.
Annex I states that the Regulation does not apply to goods if they are produced entirely from material that has completed its lifecycle and would otherwise have been discarded as waste. Therefore, no obligation applies under the Regulation in respect of the recycled material. On the contrary, if the product contains any percentage of non-recycled material that is listed in Annex I, then it is subject to the requirements of the Regulation and the non-recycled material will need to be traced back to the plot of origin via geolocation.
Certification can support companies in risk assessment and help them verify legality and responsibility of their supply chains. However, the content of different certification schemes vary, and companies are still required to exercise due diligence even though certification can be used as supporting documentation.
The regulation does not apply to packaging material when it is used to protect another product. However, the regulation applies to packaging material when it is placed on the market as such and when it is used for special (e.g. decorative) purposes beyond protecting the product.
HS (Harmonized System) Nomenclature categorises products under international 6-digit codes. CN (Combined Nomenclature) codes contain two additional digits and are used in the European Union, especially for customs purposes. In EUDR, relevant products are determined based on CN codes listed in Annex I.