Brussels: Europe and the Arabs

The European Commission in Brussels welcomed the provisional political agreement reached between the European Parliament and the Council on the Commission's proposal for targeted amendments to the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). This agreement ensures clarity and predictability regarding the start date and requirements for economic actors.

According to the statement issued Thursday evening, the agreed amendments will reduce the data burden on the IT system, enabling it to handle the expected due diligence data and simplified declarations submitted by all stakeholders. This will provide an efficient IT system, which is essential for the smooth implementation of the EUDR.

We must now ensure that the EUDR achieves its objectives on the ground. Global deforestation and forest degradation account for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and are among the most pressing challenges of our time.

Key Measures
The provisional political agreement includes the following key elements:
An additional year for economic actors to prepare before the EUDR comes into force:
The start date for the EUDR is set for 30 December 2026 for large and medium-sized enterprises; For micro and small operators, the regulation will enter into force on June 30, 2027;

For micro and small operators already covered by the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR), the regulation will enter into force on December 30, 2026.
Simplified obligations for end-users and traders: These operators and traders will no longer need to submit due diligence data or pass on reference numbers in the supply chain. Only the first end-user will receive a due diligence reference number.

A simplified one-time declaration for primary micro and small operators from low-risk countries. This declaration replaces the previous requirement to submit due diligence data in the IT system. If the required information is already available in databases established under EU or Member States legislation, and Member States make the relevant data available in the regulation's IT system, primary micro and small operators are exempt from submitting the simplified declaration.

Books, newspapers, and printed materials are excluded from the scope of EUDR products. Next steps

The European Parliament and the Council must now formally adopt the targeted amendments to the EU Deforestation Regulation before it can enter into force.

The EU Deforestation Regulation aims to ensure that a range of key commodities offered on the EU market do not contribute to deforestation and forest degradation in the EU and elsewhere in the world. Deforestation and forest degradation are major drivers of climate change and biodiversity loss, the two major environmental challenges of our time. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that 420 million hectares of forest—an area larger than the EU—were lost to deforestation between 1990 and 2020.

Since the EU Deforestation Regulation entered into force in June 2023, the Commission has been working with stakeholders to facilitate its implementation in a simple, fair, and cost-effective manner. Over the past few years, the Commission has focused on establishing the necessary framework for implementing the EU Dispute Settlement System (EUDR), notably through additional documents including guidance and frequently asked questions published in April 2025, as well as the Regulation on the Implementation of Standards issued in May 2025.

The Commission has also worked to simplify procedures in various aspects, which are expected to reduce administrative costs and burdens on businesses by an estimated 30%.

In December 2024, the EU granted an additional 12-month phased implementation period, with the law coming into force on December 30, 2025, for large and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and on June 30, 2026, for small and micro enterprises.