October: The EU commission proposes to delay the EUDR by one ear.

November 14: The EU parliament voted for the postponement of EUDR by one year. Furthermore the parliament opted for adaptations to introduce a fourth risk class of no-risk countries. This was a proposal of the EPP. The other proposed amendments to exclude traders and a postponement by 2 years have been withdrawn before the vote.

November 21: Start of the trilogue of EU Parliament, Council and Comission about EUDR. The European Council has raised a serious grievance about the no risk amendment to the EUDR, passed by the European Parliament. During the Coreper meeting, Member States refused to reopen negotiations on the EUDR’s legal text.
We from Geocledian can only welcome that: The no risk category as it has been proposed by EPP and accepted by the parliament poses a significant thread to efficiency and fairness of EUDR. The proposed rules would allow countries with where „forest area development has remained stable or has increased compared to 1990“ (Ammendment 11, §1g). This violates heavily the rules otherwise applicable for low-mid-high risk countries as it allows removal and degradation at any scale as long as the net area stays the same.
One driver for the no-risk category was the unwillingness of small forest owners in Austria and Germany to define their geolocation as it comes from sustainable managed forests – true. However, this is a minor and very simple to solve problem compared to the challenge for millions of smallholders in Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire or elsewhere in the world to geolocate their field boundaries in order to be able to sell their product and survive.

December 3: EU institutions reached an agreement. With that they follow the decision of the EU Parliament only with regard to the postponement by one year to the end of 2025. A so-called emergency brake (which had allowed to postpone the EUDR once more under certain circumstances) was first foreseen but removed at the end. The ‘no risk’ is off the table. Parliament and Council still need to endorse the agreement before the end of the year.

Most of the companies affected breathe a sigh of relief. But for very different reasons. Those who had not done their homework are relieved about the postponement. Everyone else is at least happy that the budget of money and time already invested was not in vain. And that there have been no major changes to the content.

Our appeal and advice to those companies that would not have been EUDR-ready by the end of this year: Get started now!
Don’t trust that there will be another postponement. Use the time and find out what you need to do.

We at Geocledian are also happy to help at any time. With our EUDR Check, we provide a deforestation risk assessment tool covering single plots as well as regions. It provides essential support to fulfil the EUDR deforestation free requirement for all affected commodities based on long-term satellite time series and internationally renowned quality datasets. We can also assist you in collecting polygons of the parcels.

Arrange a meeting at EUDR@geocledian.com

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