The European Parliament has voted to delay launching the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) to December 30, 2025, from its original effective date of December 30, 2024, Parliament announced Friday, November 14.
The decision to delay, which received nearly 58% of votes in support of the new deadline, came after concerns raised by EU member states, non-EU countries, traders, and operators said they would not be able to fully comply with the rules if applied as planned December 31, 2024. The European Commission proposed postponing the launch date October 2, 2024.
Parliament also adopted other amendments proposed by political groups, including the creation of a new category of countries posing “no risk” on deforestation in addition to the existing three categories of “low,” “standard,” and “high-” risk.
Countries classified as “no risk,” defined as countries with stable or increasing forest area development, would face significantly less stringent requirements, as there is a negligible or non-existent risk of deforestation.
The Commission will have to finalize a country benchmarking system by June 30, 2025, Parliament reported.
Parliament also decided to refer this matter back to committee for interinstitutional negotiations. For these changes to enter into force,the Council and Parliament will have to endorse the agreed-upon text and publish it in the EU Official Journal.
EUDR Background
The EUDR aims to ensure a set of key goods placed on the EU market will no longer contribute to deforestation and forest degradation in the EU and elsewhere in the world.
Deforestation and forest degradation are important drivers of climate change and biodiversity loss — the two key 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 European Union — were lost to deforestation between 1990 and 2020. Based on 2015–20 deforestation rates, the world is losing more than nine times the forest surface of Brussels’ Bois de la Cambre every hour, or three times the surface of the Parc Léopold bordering the European Parliament in Brussels every minute.
The co-legislators adopted the law in 2023 with overwhelming majorities both in the Parliament and in the Council. As part of the preparation of its 2021 proposal, the Commission conducted a public consultation that attracted the second largest number of responses (almost 1.2 million), with the vast majority of stakeholders supporting an ambitious approach including mandatory due diligence.