COMPANIES, INVESTORS AND CIVIL SOCIETY UNITE BEHIND CALL ON THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION TO END LEGAL UNCERTAINTY AND IMPLEMENT THE EU DEFORESTATION REGULATION
The companies, investors, non-governmental and civil society organisations represented in this statement stand united in strong opposition to any further delay or weakening of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
The EUDR was adopted in 2023 after years of careful negotiation and compromise. It offers a legal framework for addressing the EU’s role in global deforestation and forest degradation. It is intended to mitigate the climate, biodiversity, human rights and economic risks of forest loss caused by EU consumption. According to the European Commission, the sole purpose of its proposal to amend the EUDR is to avoid urgent and unanticipated issues with its IT system. Targeted technical adjustments adopted swiftly could have improved implementation, clarity and fairness. Instead, the Council of the EU and European Parliament are proposing farreaching changes that distort the objective of the Commission’s proposal and throw the future of the EUDR into question, while putting additional administrative burden on companies.
Proposals from the co-legislators to delay for another year and for an immediate review in April 2026 - before the EUDR is even applied, are inconsistent with the law’s objectives. Accepting these changes will risk further stakeholder disengagement, create greater market uncertainty and instability, offer no guarantee of a stable legal and investment environment in the near future, send counterproductive signals to the business community, and create risks of invalidity and legal challenge. After more than two years for businesses to prepare, there is no evidence to suggest that further delay will lead to higher rates of readiness.
Instead, these changes will cause more harm than good. They will effectively waste years of work and millions of euros invested by companies and governments – within and outside the EU – who have prepared to comply with the law in good faith on the legitimate expectation that the EUDR would be implemented as legally required. Delaying implementation with the prospect of further changes in 2026 will render those investments redundant.
Global forest loss, associated human rights violations, biodiversity loss and climate change create material financial and economic risks, threaten supply chain and food security, and jeopardise the viability of key economic sectors. The changes proposed by the co-legislators will delay urgently-needed action to mitigate the EU’s role in exacerbating those risks.
Countless businesses are ready and willing to push ahead with implementation. The Commission should provide producers, businesses and investors with certainty that the law will be implemented.