Companies will have an extra year to adapt to new EU rules to prevent deforestation, which will ban the sale of products sourced from deforested land in the EU, following the EU Parliament and Council’s provisional agreement.
The Deforestation Regulation entered into force on 30 June 2023. When the rules enter into application, all relevant companies will have to exercise due diligence if they place on the EU market, or export from it, palm oil, cattle, soy, coffee, cocoa, timber and rubber as well as some of its derived products (such as beef, furniture, or chocolate).
Under the EU Deforestation Regulation agreed, large operators and traders will now have to respect the obligations of this regulation as of 30 December 2025, and micro- and small enterprises from 30 June 2026. The additional time is intended to help companies around the world implement the rules more smoothly from the beginning, without undermining the objectives of the law.
The EU executive proposed postponing the application date of the deforestation regulation by one year in response to concerns raised by EU member states, non-EU countries, traders and operators that they would not be able to fully comply with the rules if applied from the end of 2024.
Following requests from Parliament, the Commission committed to ensure that both the Information System and proposal for the risk classification are available as soon as possible but not later than six months before the Regulation enters into application.
In the context of the general review of the Regulation expected no later than 30 June 2028, the Commission says it will analyse additional measures to simplify and reduce administrative burden.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that 420 million hectares of forest – an area larger than the European Union – were lost to deforestation between 1990 and 2020. In terms of net area loss (the difference between area of forest cleared and new surface of forests planted or regenerated), the FAO estimates that the world lost around 178 million hectares of forest cover in the same period of time, which is an area triple the size of France.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that 23% of total greenhouse gas emissions (2007-2016) come from agriculture, forestry and other land uses. About 11% of overall emissions are from forestry and other land use, mostly deforestation, while the remaining 12% are direct emissions from agricultural production such as livestock and fertilisers.
Guidance on EU Deforestation Regulation
Strategic Framework for International Cooperation Engagement
Commission website on EU Deforestation Regulation implementation
