Commission Proposal: New EUDR Amendment
As announced on 23 September 2025, the Commission has now published a legislative proposal for the postponement of the date of application of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 (EUDR). The content of the proposal holds a few surprises and goes well beyond mere changes to the date of application.
The most important changes in detail:
Will the date of application be postponed?
The answer is yes and no.
The current date of application of the EUDR is 30 December 2025. For small and micro-enterprises, it is 30 June 2026 (Art. 38 EUDR). As announced, the proposed legislation provides for a postponement of the date of application of the EUDR, but only for small and micro-enterprises. For such enterprises, the date is now to be 30 December 2026.
For enterprises that are not small or micro enterprises, the EUDR will continue to apply from 30 December 2025. In effect, the proposed legislation only provides for a six-month postponement of the date of application for small and micro enterprises.
How will undertakings to which the EUDR applies from 30 December 2025 be relieved?
Undertakings for which the EUDR will continue to apply from 30 December 2025 onwards are to be relieved by a ‘grace period’ arrangement.
The proposal provides for the date of application of the provisions on market surveillance measures to be postponed to 30 June 2026. Specifically, companies that are not small or micro-enterprises will still be subject to the obligations under the EUDR from 30 December 2025. However, market surveillance authorities will only be entitled to take market surveillance measures under the EUDR from 30 June 2026. This six-month ‘grace period’ is intended to allow undertakings to adapt their processes to the changed requirements of the EUDR.
If a market surveillance authority finds within the grace period that an undertaking is in breach of its obligations under the EUDR, it may issue a warning.
What new rules are proposed for so-called ‘downstream operators’ and traders?
Downstream operators are defined as those who, in the course of a commercial activity, place on the market or export relevant products made using relevant products, all of which are covered by a due diligence statement or by a simplified declaration.
The EUDR already provides for regulations for such downstream operators, but does not define the term (Art. 4(8) – (10) EUDR). These rules are now to be replaced. Downstream operators and traders are proposed to be subject to the same obligations (Art. 5 EUDR legislative proposal).
The most relevant change is that they will no longer be required to draw up due diligence statements. Instead, they will only have to collect and store information on the relevant products they supply (in particular reference numbers and supplier data). They must forward information to downstream operators/traders to whom they distribute the relevant product, from which it can be concluded that the relevant product complies with the EUDR (reference numbers, declaration identifiers).
Downstream operators or traders who are not small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) must register in the EUDR-Information-System. Existing regulations under which SME traders were effectively not required to pass on information to downstream operators/traders are to be abolished.
What are ‘micro and small primary operators’ and water are their obligations?
The proposal defines ‘micro and small primary operators’ as an operator who is a natural person or a micro- or small-sized undertaking, irrespective of its legal form, established in a country classified as low-risk, and who, in the course of a commercial activity, places on the market or exports relevant products that this operator itself has grown, harvested, obtained from or raised on relevant plots of land, or, as regards cattle, on establishments. What is notable about this definition is that undertakings who are natural persons fall into this category regardless of their economic size. Furthermore, all countries in the European Union are considered low-risk. According to the Commission, this means that the majority of foresters and farmers in the EU are covered by this category.
Such operators are subject to simplified due diligence obligations (Art. 4a EUDR legislative proposal). They are not required to submit repeated due diligence declarations and are largely exempt from the due diligence obligations under the EUDR. Instead, they only have to register once in the EUDR-Information-System and submit a one-time ‘simplified declaration’ before distributing relevant products. They are then assigned a ‘declaration identifier’ which they can pass on in the supply chain.
What did not change?
The obligations of (non-micro and small primary) operators who place a relevant product on the EU market for the first time or export it and who are not downstream operators remain essentially unchanged. The substantial due diligence obligation to be fulfilled, in particular the risk assessment procedure and the obligation to draw up a declaration of compliance, remains largely unchanged.
What now?
With the publication of the legislative proposal, the Commission has officially initiated the legislative process for amending the EUDR. The next step is for the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union to determine their positions on proposal. Due to the imminent entry into force of the EUDR, the legislative process must be completed quickly.
