Key takeaways
- The scale back relaxes the rules for companies importing specific commodities into the bloc.
- The change is a result of corporate lobbying that claimed the initial standards were expensive and burdensome.
- The regulation is the latest of many to be diluted around the globe.
The European Union walked back mandates placed on commodities that were meant to mitigate the impact of associated deforestation, following a growing global trend of corporate climate disclosure simplifications.
On April 16, 2025, the European Commission released amendments documenting the simplification of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). A response to the estimated 15 billion trees cut down each year for commercial usage, EUDR mandates that companies ensure that their products do not originate from land that had experienced deforestation or forest degradation since December 31, 2020.
EUDR, along with the EU’s Corporate Responsibility Sustainability Directive (CSRD) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (CSDDD), positioned the EU as a leading global enforcer of corporate sustainability reporting.
The recent changes include the identification of products and by-products as in or out of scope, the clarification that all waste and second-hand products are not within scope of EUDR, and the distinction that packing material and containers for sale are in scope, while packing material and containers used to ship products can be excluded from all reporting.
Additionally, companies now only need submit due diligence reports once a year, and can resubmit previous reports for reimported goods.
Products within scope of EUDR include cattle, coca, coffee, palm oil and rubber, among others.
Why did EUDR scale back?
A shift towards the right in parliament, plus lobbying from impacted industries, triggered the changes.
“Many companies still lack the capabilities needed to meet the law’s specific requirements,” said Pierre-Francois Thaler, co-founder and co-CEO of EcoVadis, “and their suppliers often aren’t equipped to gather or report the necessary data.”
These capabilities include supply chain tracing and data-system connectivity, according to Thaler.
Noncompliance risks losing access to the EU market, fines and legal action, and potential reputation damage. A September 2022 poll found that 73 percent of European consumers tend to avoid brands linked to deforestation.
Deregulating trends
The EUDR easing follows recent scale backs of the CSRD and CSDD. In March, the EU released its Omnibus package, proposing weaker mandates than were in the original versions. All three amendments are being received with mixed results.
On the one hand: “The EU is recalibrating several sustainability regulations to make implementation more practical and achievable at scale,” said Thaler. Back in 2024, 28 trade associations sent an open letter to the European Commission urging the body to delay the implementation of EUDR. But others do not agree.
On the other hand: “Reducing the reporting requirements from every batch to merely once a year is the pendulum swinging extremely from one side to the other, raising concerns about how effective monitoring and enforcement can still be,” said Antonie Fountain, director of the VOICE Network.
