The European Commission has released new guidance documents that simplify the implementation of the EU Timber Regulation (EUDR) and reduce the administrative burden on companies.
The official announcement was published on the website of this EU executive body.
A draft law providing further clarification and simplification of the scope of the EUDR (EU Deforestation Regulation) was also published for public discussion.
The European Commission reported that they are already finalizing the system of comparative analysis of countries through the Implementing Act. It is promised to be adopted no later than June 30, 2025, after discussions with member states.
Officials anticipate that all these measures will lead to a 30% reduction in administrative costs and burdens for companies.
“This will ensure a simple, fair and cost-effective implementation of this key piece of legislation,” the authors of the document are confident.
Key simplification measures
- Large companies can reuse existing due diligence statements when re-importing goods that were previously on the EU market. This means that less information needs to be submitted to the IT system.
- An authorized representative can now submit a due diligence application on behalf of members of a group of companies.
- Companies will be allowed to submit due diligence statements annually, rather than for each cargo or consignment placed on the EU market.
- Clarification on “establishing” that due diligence has been carried out so that large downstream companies can take advantage of simplified obligations (a minimum legal obligation to collect references to Due Diligence Statement (DDS) numbers from their suppliers and use these references to submit their own DDSs now applies).
All of the updated measures are expected to significantly reduce the number of due diligence statements that companies must submit.
Why is EUDR being introduced?
The EU Deforestation Regulation is designed to ensure that key products on the EU market do not contribute to deforestation and forest degradation both in the EU and around the world. The European Commission claims that even before the Regulation entered into force, it has provided greater transparency in supply chains, triggered positive changes in both the public and private sectors, and opened up new market opportunities for products made without deforestation in the EU.
The EUDR information system was launched on December 4, 2024. It is available in all EU languages. Operators can already submit and manage their due diligence statements.
Is Ukraine ready to implement the EU Felling Regulation?
The situation with illegal logging on both state and communal lands remains deplorable. Every week, EcoPolitics writes about several such cases with losses worth millions of hryvnias.
According to environmentalists and ecologists, communities do not like being forced to protect no-man's land and self-sustaining forests. They do not want to transfer community forests to the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine”. They also do not want to create communal enterprises for community protection.
Every week, foresters are exposed for illegal timber sales and organizing criminal schemes. You can open any of our digests at random to see for yourself – you won't be mistaken.
Sometimes, forestry officials commit outright violations of the law even despite widespread publicity in the press and among the environmental community. For example, in March of this year, foresters laid a forest road in the Carpathians in violation of their own instructions, without an EIA, and destroying virgin forests and Red Book plants.
Even the highest authorities demonstratively ignore court decisions and Ukraine's international obligations. For example, EcoPolitics reported that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine instructed the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources to exclude from the Emerald Network's list the land plots in the Markhalivskyi forest allocated for the construction of the National Military Memorial Cemetery. At the same time, the government ignored a court ruling that construction on this territory was illegal.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, the number of cases of illegal deforestation in Ukraine has been decreasing for 3 years in a row.
