On 12 August, the European Commission published document nr. 2025/4524 as a Guidance for Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 on Deforestation-free Products, also known as the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). The guidance document is not legally binding and needs to be used in conjunction with the EUDR. It can be used by businesses as well as by implementing and enforcement authorities.

The document provides a clearer  definition of the terms used in the EUDR, such as on “placing” or “making available on the market”,  “export”, “operator”, “negligible risk”, “forest”, and “agricultural use”, and “agricultural plantation”,  It also clarifies the product scope of the EUDR, the agroforestry system and contains chapters on due diligence system, composite products, and third-party verification.

The definitions are aligned to the UN’s FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation), UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the Intergovernmental (expert) Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and the only UN registered environmental NGO, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The EUDR aims to minimise the EU’s contribution to deforestation and forest degradation worldwide by regulating the import of specific agriculture products such as cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya and wood that may be linked to deforestation at their source of production. Ironically, while the Commission continues to focus on mitigating extraterritorial deforestation, the fact is that the EU has little natural, biodiverse forest left and little attention has been paid to its restoration.

WTO-compliance

Under WTO Law, environmental conditions such as deforestation fall under the realm of so-called processes and production methods (PPM) as opposed to “product standards” that refer to security rules like food safety. While product standards are acceptable as a legitimate concern for regulation, standards relating to PPMs are contentious within WTO rules. The key for promoting and ensuring environmental standards is reciprocity and verification and certification by third parties, i.e. independent experts, supported by traceability. 

WTO Law also requires that members’ trade measures need to be non-discriminatory and conform to the national treatment principle. The European Commission has already received criticism that the EUDR could possibly be protectionist and discriminatory, since it focuses on tropical products instead of on its own industries. 

EU-based stakeholders continue to insist that no trees should be allowed to be cut down in tropical forests, and insist that monitoring by EU-based satellite companies be done (it has already been conducted for years). At the same time, nearly all of Europe’s natural/virgin  forests have been destroyed, with the EU forestry, paper and agricultural industry and European Parliament’s biggest political party EPP, lobbying for more of the EU’s forest to be allowed for further exploitation and seeking for EU Member States to be exempted from measures such as compulsory satellite monitoring [1]. 

Some civil society organisations even question the credibility of verification and certification schemes of tropical products, even though several of these certification organisations are European (such as ISCC carbon certifying agency used by the biofuel industry) or in which EU experts participate (such as in RSPO in palm oil and FSC for timber products and paper). 

EUDR has already taken its toll on ASEAN companies, who have spent millions of Euros to ensure compliance of their entire value chain, including the integration of smallholder farmers. In reality, ASEAN stakeholders are themselves aware that destroying too much forest will lead to drought, heat and extreme weather, resulting in business losses. That explains that much of ASEAN’s forests remain untouched and biodiversity continues to thrive there Tropical rainforest covers over half the land surface in the world’s two main palm oil producers (85%), Indonesia and Malaysia.

ASEANCham-EU is tracking the EUDR closely. As a reminder, the EUDR’s implementation was delayed from December 30, 2024, to December 30, 2025, following agreement between the European Commission, Parliament, and Council. The delay was enacted to address concerns from businesses and key trading partners about the feasibility of meeting the stringent due diligence and traceability requirements by the original deadline. The postponement ends in December 2025 and is not likely to be extended further. 

As we are based in Brussels and accredited lobbyists with the EU institutions, we would be glad to discuss with you possibilities to raise your concerns on the EUDR with the EU and the many different stakeholders based in the city, possibly in an organised fashion; in cooperation with other companies, industry associations and chambers of commerce from ASEAN (and possibly also from other affected tropical countries and regions, such as South American MERCOSUR). 

Please do contact us at contact@aseancham.eu for enquiries.

[1] Fern (2024). EU’s groundbreaking deforestation law sabotaged by the European Parliament – Fern