Nová legislativa EU v rámci boje s odlesňováním – část desátá: novinky

New EU legislation to combat deforestation - part ten: news

In early October, the European Commission published guidance on the EUDR. The document, which is so far available only in English, provides guidance on a number of issues arising from the EUDR that have been unclear in interpretation. The guidance covers, for example, topics of risk assessment, complexity of the supply chain, composite products and independent certifications.

Another newly published explanatory document is an updated version of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), which clarify not only the definitions of key terms, but also how the EUDR affects packaging materials or what requirements are placed on geolocation.

In this context, the Commission has also announced that the information system to be used for the submission of due diligence statements will accept registrations from early November and will be fully operational in December this year. There are also other news concerning the information system, such as the announced development of an interface that would allow machine data entry instead of manual one.

However, the most discussed news is undoubtedly the proposal to postpone the applicability  of EUDR by 12 months, i.e. from 30 December 2025 in general and 30 June 2026 for micro and small enterprises. The postponement would similarly affect the relationship between EUDR and EUTR, the EU Timber Regulation.

But keep an eye out - for now, this is a proposal, not a "done deal". During yesterday afternoon, the Council of the EU published a press release announcing the approval of the European Commission's proposal to postpone the applicability of the EUDR, leaving the European Parliament to approve the proposal to complete the process. We are monitoring the situation for you and will keep you informed on further developments.

Although it might seem that the 12-month delay in applicability, if approved, allows the preparation for EUDR to be put on the back burner, this is not the case. Given the complexity of EUDR, the postponement of applicability can be a helping hand but should not lead to underestimating the difficulty and timeframe required to implement internal processes. Nor should the overlap with other EU legislation, such as the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), be forgotten, as proper preparation will allow all obligations to be met efficiently without duplicating efforts.

If you would like more detailed information, please contact the authors of this article or other members of the EY team with whom you work.

Authors:

Jan Turek

Veronika Juhasová