Germany’s largest timber industry association has slammed the EU Deforestation Regulation as a “bureaucratic behemoth”, rejecting Brussels’ simplification package as inadequate days after Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall confirmed she would not reopen the regulation’s primary legal text. That is according to Julia Möbus, Managing Director of the German Sawmill and Timber Industry Association (DeSH), with the regulation’s FAQ document now topping 95 pages in its fifth iteration.
DeSH represents the timber and sawmilling sector in the European Union’s largest softwood lumber-producing country, with Germany cutting 22.4 million cubic metres of sawn softwood in 2024, against Sweden’s 17.8 million, according to the European Organisation of the Sawmill Industry. That production base makes the association’s verdict the most heavily weighted continental industry response to the package in its published form.
The association acknowledges the package includes some useful elements, including scope clarifications and IT system adjustments, but says these fall short of noticeably reducing the fundamental compliance burden on businesses. DeSH argues the package layers guidance on top of guidance rather than addressing the regulation’s underlying design flaws, with each new clarification creating fresh ambiguities, particularly on practical implementation in the supply chain.
“The regulation has developed into a bureaucratic behemoth that poses enormous challenges,” Ms Möbus said, with the DeSH Managing Director adding that combating global deforestation is the right goal, but Brussels has chosen the wrong route to get there.
It comes as Wood Central reported on the five-part secondary-legislation package Brussels has issued in place of a primary-text rewrite, comprising a review report, FAQs, a guidance document, a Delegated Act, and an Implementing Act. German sawmillers are among the most heavily exposed operators ahead of the 30 December 2026 enforcement start, with the country’s softwood lumber sector accounting for the largest single national production base inside the regulated EU market.
DeSH is calling for fundamental improvements to the regulation, including a significant reduction in bureaucratic requirements, practical solutions for implementation in the supply chain, and genuine risk-based approaches that adequately consider regions without deforestation risk. The association’s position aligns with the broader European industry pushback that has shadowed the EUDR through three delays, two delegated acts, and a simplification review that ultimately produced no rewrite of the primary text.
With the FAQ now topping 95 pages in its fifth iteration, large operators eight months from the 30 December 2026 enforcement start, and the primary legal text closed off after Brussels ruled out a third rewrite, German sawmillers say the simplification package fails the structural reform test — and the bureaucratic load on Germany’s 22.4-million-cubic-metre softwood lumber sector remains largely intact heading into compliance.
