A new proposal from the European Commission has proposed softening the requirements of the impending EU deforestation-free supply chain regulation (EUDR), which is set to come into effect for large companies on 30 December, 2025.
The proposal would trim the red tape for the smallest companies in the EU, but would likely not impact smallholder farms directly.
The potential change in regulation would apply to what has been defined as “micro and small primary operators, non-SME downstream operators, and non-SME traders as regards to the submission of due diligence statements”, meaning any changes would likely bring some relief to small green-coffee traders or European roasters.
It would create a “one-time” declaration for these small operators in what have been identified as “low risk” countries, and extend their application date by six months to the end of December 2026.
The EUDR was initially meant to come into effect at the end of 2024, however the European Commission delayed its implementation by one year following debate from industry and government representatives.
The latest proposal has kept the initially delayed start date of December 2025 for large companies to become beholden to the regulations, however earlier this year there were murmurs it could be pushed back another 12 months due to IT issues cited by the European Commission.
