The EU’s will to tackle its forest footprint is in danger of collapsing

26 November 2025, Brussels – The European Parliament today voted to delay the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) before it has even entered into application, and opened the door to revising it next year. This follows the approach Member States agreed last week. 

In response, Nicole Polsterer, Fern’s Sustainability and Consumption campaigner, said: 

“EU lawmakers are subjecting the EUDR to death by a thousand cuts. We’re witnessing the demise of the EU’s most significant attempt to remove the stain of deforestation from its supply chains. As deforestation around the world spikes, the EU’s will to tackle it is collapsing.” 

The next stage in a saga that has now endured for two years, is for the European Parliament, the Commission and the Council to find common ground on the law before mid-December. If these tripartite negotiations are not concluded by then, the EUDR will enter into application on 30 December 2025. 

Business uncertainty 

The Commission’s twin proposal to start implementing the EUDR for large and mid-sized companies at the end of this year, while introducing a six-month grace period has been rejected by the Council and Parliament. Instead, they voted in favour of a one-year delay, which casts further uncertainty over the regulation. 

Polsterer said: “Lawmakers who voted for this delay are ignoring the fact that the EUDR is aimed at businesses, who have repeatedly expressed the need for legal certainty. For two years, they’ve been left hanging, as decision-makers stall and indulge in a deregulation binge which is gutting the EU’s environmental and human rights laws.” 

The Commission originally claimed a delay to the EUDR was necessary as its IT system did not have the capacity to cope with the volume of due diligence statements it would receive. It proposed to deal with this by making new requirements for traders to pass on information outside of the official system, but this was rejected by both Council and Parliament. Instead, both institutions favour removing due diligence obligations for companies moving goods from businesses to businesses further down the supply chain.  

Under the proposal going to tripartite negotiations, those operators placing goods on the EU market for the first time will have to submit a due diligence declaration, and postal addresses for plots of land where goods are produced will be valid proof of EUDR compliance for small and micro enterprises from low-risk rated countries. 

“Removing due diligence requirements from traders and simplifying requirements for small and medium sized enterprises removes the sticking plaster decision-makers had proposed to cover some of the worst loopholes of the EUDR’s predecessor the EU Timber Regulation,” said Polsterer. “Illegal goods will disappear within supply chains, and the burden of ensuring compliance will sit with Competent Authorities of the country importing or placing products on the market.” 

“Removing exact geolocation requirements for developed economies is a slap in the face for trading partners who have shown that small holders are able to comply can do exactly that,” Polsterer added 

The European Parliament and Member States have proposed to review the EUDR once more by April 2026. In response Polsterer said:

“How can a Regulation be reviewed without testing? The proposed review is just an excuse to further attack the EUDR and must be categorically rejected. The endless carousel of attempts to revise and even destroy a law that was passed with a large democratic mandate two years ago, are a farce with no one on the EU’s end seemingly willing to bear the consequences of failing to get ready for the law on time.” 

Kategorien: Press Releases, EU Regulation on deforestation-free products