The EU is now proposing not to delay the implementation of its deforestation programme for “large and medium” companies beyond the end of this year.
A proposal emerged in September that rules for the so-called EUDR initiative to cut deforestation through the cocoa, coffee and palm oil supply chains were to be pushed back to December next year due to capacity failings of the IT registration system.
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They were due to come into force in December 2025 under a new timetable following a 12-month postponement initiated last December.
In what now amounts to a U-turn, the European Commission, the legislative arm of the EU, has today (22 October) proposed keeping the 30 December 2025 deadline in place for large and medium enterprises. However, they would be given a six-month grace period “to ensure a gradual phase-in of the rules”.
The phasing period would allow those companies time for “checks and enforcement”, the Commission said in a statement in what it deems as “transitional periods to guarantee a smooth transition and [to] strengthen the IT system”.
For “micro and small enterprises”, the EUDR rules would still be implemented in December next year.
The EC’s proposals will now go before the European Parliament and the European Council for consideration, and “they would need to formally adopt the targeted amendment of the EU Deforestation Regulation before it can come into effect”, the Commission said.
It called on those two institutions to “swiftly adopt the proposal for an extended implementation period by the end of year 2025”.
A Commission spokesperson told Just Food in September that the IT registration system had proved unable to cope with the sheer number of transactions for companies to register transactions in the commodities concerned.
Today, the EC explained it had been deploying the IT system in “close cooperation with stakeholders” since its launch in December 2024.
It added: “In the context of this dialogue, new projections on the number of expected operations and interactions between economic operators and the IT system have led to a substantial reassessment of the projected load on the IT system – being much higher than anticipated.
“The system must be capable of handling all due diligence statements for products covered by the law and submitted by all operators.”
The Commission continued: “The new entry into application dates, combined with the simplification of obligations for supply chain actors, aims to ensure that the IT system can sustain the level of expected loads.”
Following feedback from operators, the EC is proposing simplifications for “operators and traders” such as retailers or “large” EU manufacturers that “commercialise” EUDR products.
“These companies are in the downstream part of the relevant value chains – the upstream operator will continue to exercise due diligence,” the Commission explained.
Similarly, for “micro and small primary operators from low-risk countries worldwide who sell their goods directly on the European market – these cover close to 100% of farmers and foresters in the EU”, it added.
It is now proposed that downstream operators and traders should not have to submit due diligence statements of their commodity operations, the EC said, noting that only one entry would need to be submitted on the system at the point of EU entry for the “entire supply chain”.
The EC explained that the “reporting obligations and the responsibility would be focused on the operators placing first the products on the market” and the amendment would replace the need for “regular submissions of due diligence statements”.
In July, Cadbury owner Mondelez International had called for a further delay to the rules, arguing they had to be “workable” in practice.
However, a letter co-signed by rival chocolate makers Nestlé and Ferrero urged the Commission to ensure “the full preservation and swift, ambitious implementation” of EUDR.
Just Food has contacted those companies for comment today and has also reached out to the WWF for its thoughts on the new EUDR proposals.
