Mighty Oak or Sapling? Political Agreement Reached on EU Deforestation Regulation Changes – Six Important Details to Know

Yesterday evening, European Parliament and Council negotiators reached a provisional political agreement on a one-year postponement of the EU Deforestation Regulation for all businesses, plus additional targeted changes intended to make it easier for companies, global stakeholders and EU member states to implement. The political agreement is further discussed in this post.

The details of the political agreement reached by the Parliament and Council are described below. An important caveat: this summary is a mash-up of what has been previewed in the Parliament and Council December 4 press statements. Final agreed upon text is still pending.

• Initial compliance date: All businesses will have an additional year to comply with the Deforestation Regulation. Large operators and traders will have to comply starting December 30, 2026. Small operators – private individuals and micro or small enterprises – generally will have an additional six months, until June 30, 2027. However, micro and small operators already covered by the EU Timber Regulation will need to comply starting December 30, 2026.

• Due diligence: Due diligence requirements have been simplified. Responsibility for submitting a due diligence statement will be on the operator that first places a relevant product on the EU market, and not on subsequent operators and traders. Downstream operators and traders also will not need to pass on reference numbers.

• Simplified declarations: Micro and small primary operators will only need to submit a one-off simplified declaration. However, if the required information is already available in databases set up under EU or member state legislation, and member states make the relevant data available in the EUDR IT system, micro and small primary operators will be exempted from submitting the simplified declaration.

• New exclusions. Printed products (books, newspapers and printed material) will be excluded from compliance. This was a request by the Parliament.

• Further Commission review: By April 30, 2026, the European Commission will be required to present a report assessing the EUDR's impact and administrative burden, in particular for micro and small operators. This likely opens the door for further changes in 2026.

• Next steps: The Parliament will vote on the amendments during its plenary session from December 15 to 18. As noted in the Parliament's press release, the agreed text must be endorsed by both the Parliament and Council and published in the EU’s Official Journal before the end of 2025 for the changes to enter into force; otherwise, the current deadlines will apply.

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