Starting on 30 December 2024, companies doing business in the EU must comply with the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) requirements. While a continually evolving legislative environment is a fact of life in the EU marketplace, this new regulation brings particularly significant implications, requiring businesses dealing with certain products to conduct even more extensive due diligence on their supply chains.
In force since 29 June 2023, the EUDR has been introduced to limit the EU market’s impact on global deforestation/forest degradation and biodiversity loss, promote deforestation-free supply chains, reduce the EU’s contribution to greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions– and protect human rights and the rights of Indigenous people.
When compliance becomes mandatory at the end of 2024, the new regulation will require large companies trading in seven key commodities (and products derived from those commodities) to prove that these goods/products do not originate from recently deforested areas or contribute to forest degradation.
