EU Commission proposes changes to EUDR

Following the meeting of the EU Environment Council on 21 October 2025, EU Commissioner Jessika Roswall announced a targeted simplification package for the Regulation on deforestation-free products (hereinafter referred to as "EUDR"). This announcement was followed on the same day by a formal proposal to amend the EUDR, including the introduction of a new Annex III (Link). The Commission is proposing significant changes to the EUDR but is maintaining the effective date of the EUDR. The Commission is only proposing a six-month extension for micro and small enterprises until 30 December 2026 (instead of 30 June 2026). Key substantive changes primarily concern so-called "downstream market participants" and "micro and small enterprises". 1. Start of application and enforcement: Crucially, even under this proposal, the EUDR will continue to apply to large and medium-sized enterprises from 30 December 2025. This means that the Commission has decided to withdraw Commissioner Roswall's original proposal to extend the EUDR implementation deadline for all affected companies by another year. The original plan to postpone the EUDR, as put forward by Commissioner Roswall, is now limited to micro and small enterprises. For these entities, the obligations will apply from 30 December 2026, which is a six-month postponement from the current application date of 30 June 2026. A key proposed change concerns the relevant date by which a micro or small enterprise must have been established to benefit from the proposed delay: instead of 31 December 2020, the micro or small enterprise must have been established as such by 31 December 2024. For companies to which the EUDR applies from 30 December 2025, the Commission proposes a transitional period regarding enforcement for the competent authorities. The enforcement powers of the competent authorities (set out in Articles 16 to 19 and Article 24 EUDR) will apply from 30 June 2026, according to the proposal. For micro and small enterprises, enforcement will begin on December 30, 2026. During the transitional period, the competent authorities may issue warnings and recommendations, but may not impose penalties or fines. Regarding the repeal of the European Timber Regulation (hereinafter "EUTR"), the amended Article 37 retains, in principle, the provisions of the current Article 37 EUDR, but grants slightly different deadlines for micro and small enterprises or enterprises that were established as micro or enterprise smalls before 31 December 2024. Obligations for different roles

The proposal introduces two new roles in addition to "market participants" and "traders", namely "small and micro primary market participants" and "downstream market participants".

2.1 Market participants

According to the proposal, the definition of the term "market participant" no longer includes the so-called "downstream market participants" (see below 2.3). This essentially means that most EUDR obligations are limited to the "first" market participant, including companies that source EUDR-relevant products from outside the EU and extract relevant raw materials within the EU. The due diligence obligations of these first market participants remain unchanged and will apply from 30 December 2025. Exemptions apply only to micro and small enterprises (see below 2.2.)

2.2 Micro and Small Enterprises

The Commission proposes the new role of a "micro and small", whose obligations are limited to submitting a one-off declaration. According to the proposal, micro and small enterprises, as defined in the new Article 2(15)(a), will not have to comply with the obligations in Article 4(2), (3) and (4)(c) of the EUDR. Micro and small enterprises only need to submit a single simplified declaration to the information system, for which they will be assigned a declaration identifier. The Commission proposes a new Annex III containing the information that micro and small enterprises must provide when submitting the simplified declaration. If all the information listed in Annex III is available in a system or database (other than the EUDR information system TRACES) that already exists under EU or Member State law, micro and small enterprises do not need to submit a simplified declaration, and it is the responsibility of the Member States to make this information available to the EUDR information system TRACES. Finally, micro and small enterprises can replace the geolocation data with the postal address of all plots where the products in question were grown, harvested, extracted, or bred.

2.3 Obligations for Downstream Market Participants and Traders

The proposal essentially combines all the obligations of the newly defined "downstream market participant" with those of the "trader" in a newly formulated Article 5. According to the proposal, downstream market participants are defined as follows:

"any natural or legal person who, in the course of a commercial activity, places on the market or exports relevant products covered by a due diligence declaration or a simplified declaration."

This includes all traders and market participants who are supplied with relevant products or raw materials by suppliers based in the EU. Furthermore, the Commission proposes limiting the responsibility of downstream market participants or traders for the conformity of products to cases where there are reasonable concerns about non-conformity. The new Article 5 will be the sole basis for their obligations – similar to the concept of traders' obligations under the EUTR. The proposal stipulates that downstream market participants and traders who are not SMEs will no longer be required to issue due diligence declarations. Instead, they must collect the reference number and certain information from their suppliers and pass it on to their customers. In addition, downstream market participants who are not SMEs and non-SME traders must register in the information system before placing relevant products on the market or exporting them. This means that while transmission to the information system is not required, the reference number must still be passed along the supply chain. The proposal therefore continues to provide for the full traceability of relevant products along the supply chain. Furthermore, the Commission proposes the introduction of a new Article 5(7), which prohibits downstream market participants who are not SMEs and non-SME traders from placing on the market, making available, or exporting relevant products if there are reasonable concerns regarding non-compliance, unless these concerns have been properly investigated and it has been established that there is no or only a negligible risk of non-compliance. It should be noted that, according to Article 16 EUDR, investigations carried out by the competent authorities will continue to include downstream market participants and traders. According to the newly proposed Article 19, such controls may include the examination of documents and records, as well as sampling and audits. In addition, according to the proposed Article 25(3), corrective measures – such as... B. ordering product recalls and corrective actions – addressing all deficiencies identified in the due diligence scheme, with the aim of reducing the risk of future non-compliance with the Regulation.

3. Next steps

The formal proposal must now be debated in the European Parliament and the Council. Both institutions must formally adopt the targeted amendments to the EUDR for the above-mentioned amendments to the EUDR to enter into force. The Commission has urged the co-legislators to adopt the proposal swiftly by the end of 2025. The earliest possible dates for a vote in the plenary of the European Parliament are 12-13 November or 24-27 November, and for the Council, 17 or 24 November.