EU Deforestation Regulation: An Overview

Introduction 

EU Regulation 2023/1115 on deforestation-free products (the EUDR) entered into force on 29 June 2023. Under the EUDR, any operator or trader who places relevant commodities or their products on the EU market, or exports from it, must be able to prove that the products do not originate from recently deforested land or have not contributed to forest degradation. The EUDR will apply to all products placed on the market from 30 December 2024 (30 June 2025 for small businesses).

Rules

Commodities such as cattle, wood, cocoa, soy, palm oil, coffee, rubber, and their derived products, such as leather, chocolate, tyres, or furniture may only be placed on the EU market, made available in, or exported from the EU if they:

• Are deforestation-free (that is, the relevant commodities must not have been produced on land that was deforested after 31 December 2020 or, in the case of timber and timber products, that the timber was harvested without forest degradation having occurred in the relevant forest after 31 December 2020);
• Have been produced in accordance with the relevant legislation of the country of production; and
• Are covered by a due diligence statement.

Due diligence 

This involves the collection of certain information, data and documentation relating to the origin of the relevant products with a view to assessing whether there is a danger that they are not in compliance with the EUDR. There are 3 stages to due diligence, as follows:

• Stage 1 - Guaranteeing access to information: providing provide information on the relevant commodities, quantity, supplier, country of production, etc., and the geographic coordinates of the plots of land on which the goods have been produced.
• Stage 2 - Risk analysis and assessment: the information gathered in stage 1 must be used to analyse and assess the risk of non-compliance in the supply chain. This risk analysis must be repeated at least once a year for each supply chain.
• Stage 3 - Adopt risk reduction measures: If the risk analysis carried out during stage 2 shows that the risk is not negligible, appropriate and proportionate mitigation measures must be taken. And these procedures and measures must be reviewed at least annually.

Enforcement of the EUDR in Ireland 

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is the designated competent authority for the implementation of the EUDR in Ireland. Penalties for non-compliance include: imposition of fines, confiscation of products or income, disqualification from procurement processes and/or exclusion from procurement procedures and access to public funding. 

For more information, please contact John Gaffney or your usual Beauchamps contact.