Emerging clarity around EUDR

This now only needs to be confirmed by the European Parliament during a vote on 16 December, and by a Council vote shortly after, both of which are now seen as formalities. That will give time for the amendments to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union before 30 December and to enter into force as intended. Key elements of the agreed text include:

• The date of application of EUDR will be delayed for an additional twelve months, so that enforcement will now begin for large medium-sized operators on 30 December 2026, and for micro and small operators (with less than 50 employees and turnover not exceeding €10 million) on 30 June 2027.
• Due Diligence requirements will be simplified for internal EU trade. Specifically, the obligation to submit due diligence statements (DDS) will fall only on businesses that first place regulated products onto the EU market, and not on downstream operators and traders inside the EU. The need to transfer DDS reference numbers will also now not extend beyond the “first downstream operator”. By implication, there will be no obligation on EU exporters of regulated products to provide either DDS or their reference numbers. Furthermore, micro and small “primary operators” (i.e. forest owners and farmers inside the EU) will only have to submit a one-off simplified declaration rather than a DDS for each shipment. They can also provide a postal address as an alternative to geolocation of land plots.
• There are still effectively no simplifications offered for products imported from non-EU countries. The concept of introducing a 4th risk category (‘no risk’), which was previously mentioned, is not included in this amendment text.
• However, this amendment text does mandate the European Commission to carry out an additional “simplification” review of the Regulation by April 30, 2026, and on this basis to present a report to the European Parliament and the Council accompanied, where appropriate, by an additional legislative amendment proposal.

While EU institutions have yet to propose any “simplifications” of immediate benefit to U.S. hardwood producers, the prospect of an additional twelve month delay accompanied by a review and possible further amendment to the legal text provides a great opportunity to make the case for formal recognition of the county-based approach to provision of geolocation data delivered by the AHA Platform.

This case is now backed by strong legal and technical arguments and is given added impetus by the US-EU framework agreement on reciprocal, fair and balanced trade which obligates the EU to address the concerns of US producers and exporters regarding the EUDR with a view to avoiding undue impact on US-EU trade.

This case becomes overwhelming if the US hardwood export industry adopts the AHA Platform at scale and starts now to deliver AHA Statements with all export consignments, irrespective of requests from customers. A well-established system which is widely adopted by exporters and familiar to overseas customers will be much harder to challenge when the EUDR does eventually enter into force.

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