EU governments formally backed another one-year delay to the EU’s new anti-deforestation law (EUDR) last week as the end-of-year enforcement date looms.
On Nov. 19, EU member states agreed on a negotiating mandate that would push back EUDR enforcement to Dec. 30, 2026, for large organizations and June 30, 2027, for small organizations — both a year later than currently planned. The European Commission and European Parliament are expected to fast-track negotiations to potentially update the law before year’s end.
The vote comes nearly two months after the European Commission suggested delaying enforcement — the second such delay in as many years — citing a lack of readiness in its own IT system. Last month, as question marks surrounding the enforcement deadline remained, the European Commission also proposed softening the law’s reporting requirements for smaller companies.
An announcement from the European Council, which represents EU heads of state and government, said this week’s vote to postpone follows “concerns from member states and stakeholders about the readiness of companies and administrations, as well as about technical issues related to the new information system.”
Numerous environmental groups pushed back against the decision this week.
“Claims by member states that ‘tackling deforestation remains a priority’ are a blatant distortion,” Anke Schulmeister-Oldenhove, manager for forests at the WWF European Policy Office, said in an announcement. “With this vote, the EUDR is very close to becoming a theoretical thinking exercise rather than a concrete step towards zero deforestation.”
While delays to EUDR have been welcome by some large European roasters, some corporate voices have emerged in favor of keeping the law and its enforcement schedule intact. An October letter signed by a consortium of NGOs and companies — including Nestlé, Mars Wrigley, Olam Agri, Rainforest Alliance and 15 others — noted that the companies have “been actively preparing and investing in compliance with the current provisions of the EUDR.”
“These efforts have been made in good faith that the European legislative framework and timeline were reliable,” the letter stated.
In the meantime, the world’s forests continue to shrink at an alarming rate. According to University of Maryland GLAD Lab data, loss of tropical primary forests reached 6.7 million hectares in 2024 — roughly 18 soccer fields every minute — due primarily to fires and agricultural development.
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Nick Brown
Nick Brown is the editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine.
