Press release: Delaying the EUDR sends a dreadful signal to the rest of the world

When the EU deforestation regulation (EUDR) came into force in June 2023 it was greeted as an historic moment in the fight to protect the world’s endangered forests.  

The law signaled the EU’s resolve to end its complicity in global forest destruction by denying companies EU market access unless they could prove their products made from cattle, wood, cocoa, soy, palm oil, coffee and rubber are deforestation-free. 

Just over two years later, the fanfare which accompanied passing the law has been silenced. 

On 23 September 2025, the European Commission announced that the EUDR may be pushed back by another year, following on from a previous postponement from the end of 2024 to the end of 2025. 

This time they blamed IT faults for the delay – but the past 12 months have been Groundhog Day, as we’ve witnessed relentless attempts to derail the law, which was passed with an overwhelming democratic mandate. 

A wider battle 

“This is part of a wider battle: between those who want to protect the natural world and the life systems which depend on it, and those intent on destroying it, often driven by narrow self-interest. The decision is an affront to all who have worked tirelessly to make the EUDR a reality," said Fern’s Nicole Polsterer. 

It remains to be seen whether those who had tried to torpedo the law – such as EPP MEPs Christine Schneider and Alexander Bernhuber, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the American Forest and Paper Association, and deforesting Member States such as Romania – will use the delay as an opportunity to lobby for it to be dismantled. 

“Just two months before COP30 this decision sends a dreadful signal to the rest of the world,” Polsterer said. “Every day that this law is delayed means more forests razed, more wildfires and more extreme weather. Instead of defending the first law of its kind in the world, the Commission is basically telling its fiercest critics to have another go at killing it.” 

NGOs have already raised concerns that those smallholders, partners, governments and companies who have already dedicated time and resources to preparing for the launch should not now be put at a disadvantage.  

President von der Leyen called the launch of the European Green Deal “our man on the moon moment”. We must not let it be brought back to earth by a computer malfunction.  

Image: Savo Ilic/Shutterstock

Categorias: Press Releases, EU Regulation on deforestation-free products, Indonesia