EUDR Contingency Arrangement veröffentlicht

+++ Hinweis: Aufgrund der hohen Aktualität veröffentlichen wir diesen Beitrag zunächst auf Englisch. Eine deutsche Übersetzung folgt in Kürze. +++

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Under Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 (“EUDR”), relevant products may only be placed on the Union market or exported once a due diligence statement (“DDS”) or a simplified declaration (“SD”) is submitted, Art. 3 lit. c EUDR. The information system to which the DDS or SD is submitted generates a reference number or an SD identifier. According to Art. 26(4) EUDR, the reference number or identifier must be stated in the customs declaration. If the system goes down, operators may be unable to obtain them, and goods may be held at the border even though all compliance work is done.

The EU Commission has now published a Contingency Arrangement for this scenario. It sets out when operators may use placeholder numbers (“contingency numbers”) during an outage, how they must document their use, and when they must stop. The Contingency Arrangement applies from 30 December 2026, when the EUDR’s main obligations take effect for large and medium-sized operators.

1. How the Contingency Arrangement works

The Contingency Arrangement has three elements: (i) an automated Status Monitoring System that detects outages and records when they begin; (ii) a Public Status Page (status.eudr.webcloud.ec.europa.eu), which is the only authoritative source on system availability; and (iii) two uniform contingency numbers:

• For DDS: 00EU0000000000

• For SD: S00EU000000000

During an outage, a Contingency Landing Page replaces the Information System webpage and links to the Public Status Page. It also sets out a ten-step procedure for operators to follow during an outage, starting with a check for local IT problems.

2. Conditions for using contingency numbers

Operators may use contingency numbers, and national authorities may accept them, only if four conditions are all met.

First, the Public Status Page must confirm an unplanned outage of more than 60 minutes. Planned maintenance and scheduled updates do not qualify, even if they last longer; they are announced in advance in the News section of the Information System. Problems with EU-CSW-CERTEX and API error messages are not covered either.

Second, it must not have been possible to submit a DDS or SD for the product, and no standard number may have been issued. If a standard number already exists for a shipment, it must be used. Third, the transaction (placing on the market or lodging an import or export customs declaration) must take place during the outage. Use ends with immediate effect once the Public Status Page reports recovery.

Fourth, the operator must already have completed its due diligence.

3. Practical implications for EUDR operators

The Contingency Arrangement has several practical implications for EUDR operators:

3.1. No relief from due diligence

Using a contingency number confirms that the operator has already exercised due diligence under Art. 8 EUDR, collected the information required by Annex II or Annex III, and established that the products are deforestation-free and legally produced (Art. 3(a) and (b) EUDR). The operator remains fully responsible for compliance and only the submission requirement in Art. 3(c) EUDR falls away.

3.2. Documentation is the operator’s burden

Operators must record all Annex II or Annex III data for the shipments concerned and keep it for the period set out in Art. 9(1) EUDR. The EU Commission also recommends keeping a short explanation of why the DDS or SD could not be submitted outside the outage and evidence that the outage exceeded 60 minutes at the time of the attempted submission, such as a time-stamped screenshot of the Public Status Page.

3.3. No retrospective filing, no carry-over

Shipments placed on the market and declared under a contingency number during the outage do not require a DDS or SD after recovery. Every shipment placed on the market or exported after recovery, however, needs a standard DDS or SD.

3.4. Customs and supply-chain implications

Customs systems record every use of a contingency number. Competent authorities, working with customs authorities under Art. 27 EUDR, may check its use and ask for evidence that it was justified. Improper use, such as frequent but unjustified use, may lead to penalties under the EUDR.

A single customs declaration may contain both contingency and standard numbers, under the same TARIC codes and for the same or different items. Contingency numbers do not need to be entered into the Information System. Downstream operators and traders must collect and keep contingency numbers from their suppliers in the same way as standard numbers (Art. 5(3) EUDR). Their supplier onboarding and data checks should accept, flag and document the placeholder formats instead of rejecting them as invalid.

4. Recommended actions for EUDR operators

EUDR operators should add the ten-step procedure from the Contingency Arrangement to their customs and compliance manuals and train staff on it, including the initial check for local IT problems (connectivity, browser, EU Login credentials), the 60-minute threshold and the rule that a standard number always takes priority. They should name the people who monitor the Public Status Page during an outage, record the start time shown there and authorise the use of contingency numbers.

Due diligence should be completed and documented before shipments are scheduled, so that an outage never meets an incomplete file. Operators should also set up a standard evidence template (e.g. screenshot, timestamp, explanation, shipment reference) and a process for keeping these records.

ERP systems and the interfaces with customs brokers and suppliers must be able to process contingency numbers and switch back to standard numbers automatically after recovery. Finally, operators should review their supply, trade finance and customs brokerage agreements to clarify who bears responsibility when contingency numbers are used.