EU Deforestation Regulation: final green light for the one-year postponement

On 23 December 2024, the Regulation (EU) 2024/3234 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the delay of the application date of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) was published in the Official Journal of the EU. It comes into force on 26 December 2024, a few days ahead of the initially foreseen date of entry into application.

The new Regulation provides for a one-year postponement of this date, from 30 December 2024 to 30 December 2025 for large in-scope companies and 30 June 2026 for small and micro enterprises. This will allow operators and traders, as well as third countries and EU Member States, an extra year to prepare for the implementation of the EUDR. 

However, the Commission must publish the list of countries that present a low or high risk no later than 30 June 2025 so that operators and traders have this information ahead of the EUDR start of application date. 

The legislative process for the new Regulation was not straightforward with the European Parliament trying to introduce additional changes to the EUDR. However, these changes were dropped during the trilogue negotiations after resistance from the Council and Commission – see our previous blog post.

The Commission has also recently adopted an Implementing Regulation in relation to the Deforestation Due Diligence Statement Registry where businesses will register their due diligence statements. Operators and traders would therefore be able to register their due diligence statements even before the date of application of the EUDR. 

Further reading

For more information on the EUDR, including Commission guidance and FAQs, see our previous blog posts:

• Deforestation Regulation: EU imposes new due diligence duties on operators and traders
• EU Deforestation Regulation: Commission publishes guidance and proposes 12-month delay to application date
• EU Deforestation Regulation: European Parliament votes on amendments including one-year delay
• EU Deforestation Regulation: Parliament and Council agree one-year delay