Regulating Forests: Monitoring the Impacts of the EUDR

• Products shall not be placed or made available on the EU market or exported, unless all the following conditions are fulfilled:

  • Deforestation-Free

  • Produced in line with the relevant legislation in the country of production

  • Covered by a due diligence statement​.

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• “Relevant products” are those that contain, have been fed with or have been made using goods from any of these 7 commodities:

  • Cattle, Cocoa, Coffee, Oil Palm, Rubber, Soya, Wood.

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• Table list of regulated products can be accessed here.​

• Due diligence statements will be contained in the Information System (IS), which is to be implemented by 30 December 2024, and must include:

  • Detailed information that proves the products comply with the EUDR

  • Risk assessment for each product, to define the risk of non-compliance, including the establishment of a three-tier benchmark risk system

  • Risk mitigation measures.

• In order to cease non-compliance within a specified and reasonable period of time, corrective action shall include at least one of the following:

  • Rectifying any formal non-compliance

  • Preventing the relevant product from being imported/traded/exported; or

  • Withdrawing or recalling the relevant product immediately d. donating the relevant product to charitable or public interest purposes or, if that is not possible, disposing of it in accordance with EU law on waste management.

• Penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive and shall include:

  • Fines proportionate to the environmental damage and value of the items (gradually increasing with repeated infringements) with a maximum of at least 4% of EU turnover in the preceding year. May be increased to exceed the potential economic benefit;

  • Confiscation of relevant products or of the revenues gained from the items;

  • Temporary exclusion from public procurement processes and public funding;

  • For serious or repeated infringements, temporary prohibition from dealing in the EU in those items, or a prohibition from using the simplified due diligence process.

• The EUDR establishes a section concerning relations with third parties:

  • Assessment of countries’: creates a three-tier system of high, standard and low risk countries. It shall be based on an objective and transparent assessment by the Commission considering as the main criteria:​​

    • Production trends of relevant commodities and of relevant products. 

    • Rate of deforestation and forest degradation

    • Rate of expansion of agriculture land for relevant commodities;

  • Partnerships and cooperation with third countries: the EU shall engage with producer countries to jointly address the root causes of deforestation and forest degradation.