EU deforestation rules apply from 30 December 2026

The EU regulation on deforestation-free products becomes applicable to large and medium operators and traders on 30 December 2026, just over three months from now, and to micro and small operators on 30 June 2027. Those dates follow two postponements, and the European Commission has confirmed it will not reopen the text of the law again. Companies placing cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soy or wood on the EU market, or exporting them, will from that date need to show that the goods were produced without deforestation and in line with the laws of the country where they were grown.

The regulation, known as the EUDR, entered into force on 29 June 2023 and was originally due to apply from 30 December 2024. In December 2024 the Parliament and the Council pushed that back by a year. In December 2025 they pushed it back again, through Regulation (EU) 2025/2650, published in the Official Journal on 23 December 2025. The Council described the second revision as a response to continuing implementation problems, in particular the need for the EU information system to work properly and to lighten the load on smaller operators.

What the regulation covers

The EUDR applies to seven commodities, namely cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soy and wood, and to a wide range of products derived from them, from leather and chocolate to furniture and soybean meal. The December 2025 revision narrowed that list slightly, removing certain printed products such as books, newspapers and printed pictures on the grounds that their deforestation risk is limited.

The core obligation stays as it was. Before a covered product can be placed on the EU market or exported, the operator responsible must carry out due diligence showing that the commodity was not produced on land deforested after the regulation's cut-off date, and that it complies with the relevant laws of the producing country. Primary operators carry full due diligence obligations, including the geolocation of the plots of land where the commodity was produced.

Who must file and who no longer has to

The 2025 revision redistributed responsibility along the supply chain. It created a new category of downstream operator, meaning a business that places on the market products manufactured from goods already placed on the EU market under a due diligence or simplified declaration. Operators and traders selling products further down the chain after that first placement no longer have to submit their own due diligence statements, which concentrates the obligation on the upstream operator that first brings the commodity or product into the EU.

Due diligence statements now also have to include the estimated annual quantity of the regulated products concerned.

What EU farmers have to do

The lightest obligations fall on the smallest producers in the lowest-risk countries. Micro and small primary operators from low-risk countries, a category that the Commission says includes nearly all EU farmers and foresters, will submit a single simple one-off declaration in the EUDR information system rather than a statement for each consignment. Where the relevant information already exists in a member state database, no further action is required from them. Qualifying micro and small operators may also give a postal address in place of full plot geolocation.

The risk category depends on where a commodity is produced. A benchmarking implementing regulation adopted in May 2025 classifies countries of sourcing as high, standard or low risk, and the depth of checks an operator must carry out follows from that classification.

Why the date is now unlikely to move again

The December 2025 agreement mandated a simplification review by 30 April 2026, and the Commission presented a package of measures on 4 May 2026. It confirmed at that point that it would not reopen the text of the EUDR and would instead pursue simplification through a delegated act and through new features in the information system rather than through a further legislative change.

The co-legislators had already removed the grace period the Commission originally proposed for large and medium companies in late 2025, choosing a clear application date instead of a phased tolerance. Legal advisers working on the file have told clients to plan for 30 December 2026 as binding.

Greek importers carry the heavier obligations

For most Greek farmers the practical burden will be a single declaration, provided the relevant data already sits in national registers. The heavier obligations fall on businesses that import covered commodities from outside the EU. That includes feed compounders buying soybean meal, roasters importing green coffee, confectioners and food processors using cocoa and palm oil, leather and furniture businesses, and anyone importing timber and wood products.

For those operators the requirement is full due diligence, including geolocation data from suppliers in producing countries, and the ability to demonstrate it on request. The regulation's own history shows why preparation cannot wait for clarity on details. The information system, the benchmarking of countries and the treatment of downstream actors have all shifted over three years, while the core requirement to trace a commodity to its plot of origin has stayed exactly where it was.