The European Commission has tabled changes to the EU Deforestation‑free Product Regulation (EUDR) that would create a green lane for timber importers from low‑risk countries and sharply ease compliance for thousands of smallholders and downstream businesses in a bid to preserve its Dec. 30, 2025, start date.
Under the new draft, smallholders in countries classified as “low risk” — including the United States, Canada, India, China and Australia — would only need a one‑time declaration to register as an operator. In effect, the change would apply to 141 low‑risk countries but would still exclude imports from 49 countries classified as standard‑risk, including Brazil, Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as four high‑risk countries: Russia, Belarus, North Korea and Myanmar.
“Today, we are presenting a package that responds to real implementation challenges. It simplifies the rules notably for small farmers and operators, while maintaining Europe’s global leadership in the fight against deforestation,” according to Jessika Roswall, Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy. “It is not about lowering the ambition, it’s about making the rules work in a better and smarter way because effective implementation matters.”
Wood Central understands that the new rules would allow EU firms sourcing processed goods from importers — for example, furniture retailers buying finished plywood‑based products — to pass on the importer’s due diligence statement rather than produce a new one.
The regulation, which bans the import and sale of commodities linked to deforestation, covers beef, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soy and wood. The law, originally due to take effect at the end of 2024, was delayed by a year, with the Commission pushing to implement the changes in a desperate bid to avoid another 12-month delay. To this end, the World Resources Institute welcomed the move to reduce burdens on the smallest operators, saying, “The European Commission today put forward a formal proposal to simplify the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) for micro and small enterprises, as well as downstream operators.”
“With this proposal, the Commission is creating a workaround to allow compliance with the EUDR to begin at the end of December 2025. While no tampering would have been preferable, this approach is far better than delaying enforcement another year or gutting the regulation, as some have called for, according to Stientje van Veldhoven, the Vice President and Regional Director for Europe of World Resources Institute. “Crucially, it rejects the most harmful proposals like exempting entire countries. The proposal exempts small companies from submitting due diligence declarations, ensuring their products aren’t sourced from land deforested or degraded after the cutoff date and comply with local laws.”
“It’s important the European Parliament and Council give businesses clear guidance — and avoid adding uncertainty with further changes to the law. Forests are vital for climate stability, yet last year we lost 6.7 million hectares — 18 football fields every minute. With just 7% of the global population, the EU drives up to 16% of deforestation through imports. The EU bears a disproportionate responsibility to lead.”
But industry reaction was mixed.
The Forest Products Association of Canada said the new proposal “does not address real concerns” with an EU information technology system that remains unfit for purpose and overlooks the impact on micro‑ and small businesses that support larger supply chains.
FPAC President and CEO Derek Nighbor said the EUDR should formally recognise low‑risk third countries and that Canada is ready to work with international partners on “a revised proposal that meets the intent of the regulation without undermining reliable trading relationships.” He urged the Canadian government to engage directly with EU institutions to ensure simplified traceability for countries that pose negligible deforestation risk.
The proposal must still be approved by EU member states and the European Parliament, where it will face scrutiny from capitals and lawmakers weighing the bloc’s forest‑protection goals against concerns about trade disruption, technical readiness and the administrative burden on smaller operators.
- To learn why failures with the EUDR’s IT system could lead to further delays in the rollout of the world’s strictest deforestation regulation, click here for Wood Central’s special feature.
