EU Deforestation Regulation Explained: How to Meet EUDR’s 2025–2026 Deadlines
The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) keeps deforestation-linked commodities and products off the EU market. Enforcement begins on December 30, 2025 for medium and large companies, with micro and small companies following in December 2026.
There are seven relevant commodities covered by the EUDR (cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya, and wood), and any products made from them must be deforestation-free and traceable to the specific land plot to be placed on or exported from the EU market.
Only the company first placing goods on the EU market files the central due diligence declaration in TRACES. Traders and downstream manufacturers get simplified obligations, but every organization still needs clean supplier data, mapped origin areas, and plot-level traceability. The risks are real: fines, import bans, and market exclusion.
How do you comply with EUDR? Here’s what to know:
Below, Dr. Ubbo Aßmus, Managing Director and Co-Founder of lawcode, breaks down what to do now and how automation and direct TRACES connectivity reduce the manual burden of EUDR compliance.
Dr. Ubbo Aßmus, Managing Director and Co-Founder of lawcode
Q: How must organizations best prepare for EUDR?
Ubbo: To best prepare for EUDR, organizations must first determine whether they act as a market participant or as a trader, correctly classify their company size, and identify all raw materials and products subject to EUDR scope.
They also need to collect supplier and origin data (including geocoordinates and mapped cultivation areas), assign clear internal responsibilities, and ensure they are technically prepared to connect with the TRACES system for submitting due diligence statements.
In addition, organizations should leverage automated risk-analysis tools and AI-supported data processing to efficiently identify high-risk suppliers and sourcing regions.
Q: What do many organizations overlook regarding EUDR?
Ubbo: Many organizations overlook that only the entity placing the product on the EU market for the first time is required to submit the central due diligence declaration and fail to recognize the necessity of map-based geolocation of origin areas and full supplier-profile traceability. Consequently, they underestimate the complexity of integration with their ERP/purchasing systems.
Q: What differentiates lawcode’s offerings from the competition?
Ubbo: The automated data integration from different data sources (e.g., origin, supplier, and geolocation data) combined with a direct technical connection to the EU’s TRACES portal.
Our EUDR module has been legally reviewed to confirm the correct and compliant implementation of EUDR requirements by a major law firm, ensuring regulatory confidence and clarity in the process.
In addition, our EUDR Manager supports AI-powered compliance risk assessments, such as evaluating risk levels of origin countries, supplier reliability, or sanction list screenings. Together with map-based cultivation-area visualization and seamless integration with existing ERP and purchasing systems, our solution significantly reduces manual workload and compliance complexity.
Q: What are some of the module’s key features?
Ubbo: Our module’s key features include:
- Automated import of supplier, origin, and geolocation data via an API
- Map-based marking of cultivation or production areas for full traceability
- Creation and management of complete supplier profiles for maximum transparency
- De-forestation check
- Compliance checks of the products and vendors
- Centralized creation and management of EUDR due diligence statements
- Direct submission to the EU TRACES platform
- AI-supported data validation, risk analysis, and evaluation of EUDR-relevant data
- Workflow tools for assigning responsibilities and ensuring compliance consistency
- Seamless connectivity to existing ERP/purchasing systems
Q: Reporting directly to the EU portal is critical. What does your product interface allow for?
Ubbo: Our product interface allows for:
- Seamless submission of due diligence statements (DDS) to TRACES
- Automated data validation and consolidation from multiple sources
- Map-drawing and geolocation visualization of origin areas
- Comprehensive supplier-profile creation and maintenance
- Integration with ERP/purchasing systems to avoid double data-entry and reduce errors
- Significantly reduced manual input and lower risk of compliance errors
Q: Many companies around the world use forest-derived products, from consumer goods to packaging to food to manufacturing. Why is EUDR so critical to prepare for?
Ubbo: EUDR is critical to prepare for, because non-compliance can result in product import bans, substantial fines, and even exclusion from the EU market, and authorities have already indicated that enforcement will be strict.
The new regulation also mandates traceability down to the land-plot level, meaning companies must be able to prove the exact geographic origin (geo location data) of their commodities, not just the supplier, which demands new levels of data and system integration.
Q: What’s the most significant shift introduced by the EUDR?
Ubbo: The requirement for traceability down to the land-plot level and the expectation of digital, automated compliance workflows. Companies that rely solely on manual or fragmented data will face major operational risks.
How can we help your organization comply with EUDR?
Early compliance is your competitive edge.
