EU Delays Deforestation Supply Chain Law With Easier Rules

The European Council has agreed to delay the perpetration of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) by another time, marking the alternate holdback of a law designed to help deforestation-linked products from entering or leaving EU requests. Alongside the detention, the Council has also proposed fresh simplification measures intended to reduce the executive burden on companies, going beyond changes formerly suggested by the European Commission.

The decision forms the base of the Council’s negotiating accreditation as it begins conversations with the European Parliament on emendations to the regulation. However, the new timeline would push the perpetration of the EUDR to the end of 2026 for large enterprises and to mid-2027 for small and micro-sized drivers, if approved. This comes just weeks before the regulation was first listed to take effect, creating a fresh query for businesses preparing to misbehave.

The EUDR was first introduced by the European Commission in November 2021 with the end of barring products linked to deforestation and timber declination from the EU supply chain. The law targets crucial goods similar to wine, oil painting, beef, timber, coffee, cocoa, rubber and soy, along with several deduced products including leather, chocolate, tyres and cabinetwork. Companies placing these products in the EU or exporting them would be needed to meet strict due industriousness scores demonstrating that their goods weren't produced on land defoliated after 2020 and that they misbehave with all applicable laws in the country of origin.

When the regulation was firstly set to take effect at the end of 2024, it was delayed by a time to give companies fresh time to acclimatise their systems and processes. Still, enterprises have continued to grow around the readiness of IT structure and the complexity of compliance. In September 2025, the Commission considered proposing another one-time detention after assessing that the systems might not be capable of handling the anticipated data volumes. While it ultimately chose to keep the original perpetration schedule for the end of 2025, it proposed a six-month grace period for enforcement and extended the compliance deadline for small enterprises to the end of 2026.

The Commission also introduced simplification measures to ease reporting conditions, shifting the bulk of reporting responsibility to drivers placing products directly on the EU request. Under these changes, downstream drivers, similar to retailers and manufacturers, would no longer need to submit multiple due diligence statements, reducing overall reporting from several sessions to just one across the supply chain. For micro and small drivers, the Commission proposed a one-time simplified protestation, with no further action needed if applicable information was formerly available in the system.

Despite these adaptations, the Council decided for a more conservative approach by proposing another detention and fresh simplifications. One crucial change includes taking only the first downstream driver to retain due industriousness information, rather than obliging every posterior actor in the force chain to do so. Another significant concession allows small drivers to give traceability data grounded on postal canons rather than precise geolocation, which had been a major point of concern for businesses due to specialised and cost-related challenges.

The Council’s position also introduces a provision calling for a formal simplification review of the EUDR in April 2026. This review will assess the executive burden and broader impact of the regulation, particularly on micro and small enterprises. Specifically, this evaluation would take place before the Council’s proposed perpetration deadline, leaving the possibility open for further reductions in scores depending on the findings.

The move has touched off mixed responses among stakeholders. Before this week, several major companies operating in sectors affected by the EUDR published a common letter expressing concern over further detainments and simplifications. They argued that repeated detainments could undermine the credibility of the regulation, produce queries, and disadvantage companies that have formerly invested significant coffers in setting up compliance systems. According to these enterprises, harmonious and predictable regulation is essential for driving genuine progress toward deforestation-free supply chains.

At the same time, numerous lower businesses and assiduity groups have ate the detention, citing the complexity of the conditions and the challenges involved in establishing detailed traceability systems across global force chains. For these drivers, the fresh time and reduced reporting scores are seen as necessary to ensure that compliance is both practical and commensurate.

The coming step lies with the European Parliament, whose lawgivers are anticipated to bounce on their position regarding the proposed changes in the coming week. This will be followed by accommodations between the Parliament and the Council to reach a final agreement before the current perpetration date of December 30. The outgrowth of these addresses will determine whether the regulation moves forward as revised or faces further adaptations.

As the EU continues to balance its environmental intentions with profitable realities, the detention highlights the ongoing pressure between administering rigorous sustainability norms and ensuring that businesses have the capacity to meet them effectively. The EUDR remains a central element of the EU’s broader strategy to combat global deforestation, but its evolving timeline reflects the complexity involved in rephrasing policy pretensions into practical perpetration across different and connected force chains.