EUDR cooperation and partnerships

A benchmarking system operated by the Commission will classify countries, or parts thereof, in three categories (high, standard and low risk) according to the level of risk of producing in such countries commodities that are not deforestation-free.

The criteria for the identification of the risk status of countries or parts thereof are defined in Article 29 of the Regulation. Article 29 (2) mandates the Commission to develop a system and publish the list of countries, or parts thereof, no later than 18 months after the entry into force of the Regulation when the main obligations of the Regulation kick in. It will be based on an objective and transparent assessment analysis of quantitative and qualitative criteria, taking into account the latest scientific evidence, internationally recognised sources, and information verified on the ground.

The Commission is required under Article 29(5) to engage in a specific dialogue with all countries that are, or risk to be classified as, high risk, with the objective to reduce their level of risk. This dialogue will be an opportunity for partner countries to provide additional relevant information and work in close contact with the EU ahead of the finalisation of the classification.

The Observatory will built on already existing monitoring tools, including Copernicus products and other publicly or privately available sources, to support the implementation of this Regulation by providing scientific evidence, including land cover maps on the cut-off date, regarding global deforestation and forest degradation and related trade. The use of these maps will not automatically ensure that the conditions of the Regulation are complied with, but will be a tool to help companies to ensure compliance with this Regulation, for example to assess the deforestation risk. Companies will still be obliged to carry out due diligence.

The EU  Observatory on deforestation and forest degradation will cover all forests worldwide, including European forests and will be developed in coherence with other ongoing EU policy developments such as the Forest Monitoring Law and upgrading and enhancement of the Forest Information System for Europe (FISE).

The primary purpose of reference maps produced by the EU Observatory will be to inform the risk assessment by operators/ traders and EU MS Competent Authorities (CAs). As such, reference maps will have the following features:

• They will be non-mandatory. There will be no obligation compelling operators /traders (or CAs) to use the reference maps of EU Observatory to inform their risk assessment
• They will be non-exclusive. Operators and traders (as well as CAs) may avail themselves of other maps that can be more granular or detailed than those made available by the Observatory. The regulation is not prescriptive on the modalities to inform the risk assessment. The Observatory is one of the many tools which will be available, and will be a tool that the Commission will offer free of charge
• They will be non legally binding. Therefore, reference maps may made available by the EU Observatory may be used for risk assessment. However, the fact that geolocation provided falls within an area considered as forest does not automatically lead to conclusions of non-compliance. On the other hand, one should not assume that if geolocation falls outside an area considered as forest the shipment/commodity will not be checked (there can be random checks, and there may be other risk factors) or that the commodity will be automatically compliant (first, due to the absence of 100% accuracy, and second, because a deforestation-free commodity could anyway be illegal)

The EU Member States’ competent authorities (EUMS CAs) should carry out checks to establish that the relevant commodities and products that have been or are intended to be placed on or made available on the market or exported, come from deforestation-free plots of land and were produced legally (as per their obligation under Art. 16). This includes conducting checks on the validity of the due diligence statements, and the overall compliance of the operators and traders with the provisions of the Regulation. 

For more information on the scope of EUMS CAs obligations, please refer to Articles 18 and 19 of the Regulation. 

In the context of the implementation of this Regulation, Competent Authorities of EU Member States will use the definitions set out in Article 2 of the Regulation. 
A regulation is a binding legislative act in the EU. It must be applied in a harmonized manner in its entirety in the 27 EU Member States. 

Competent authorities may identify situations where relevant products present a high risk of being non-compliant with the requirements of the Regulation on the basis of different circumstances, including on the spot checks, the outcome of their risk analysis in their risk-based plans, or risks identified through the information system, or on the basis of information coming from another competent authority, substantiated concerns etc. In such cases, the competent authorities can introduce interim measures as defined in Article 23, including the suspension of placing or making available the product on the market. This suspension should end within three working days, or 72 hours in case of perishable products. However, the competent authority can come to the conclusion, based on checks carried out in this period of time, that the suspension should be extended by additional periods of three days to establish if the products is compliant with the Regulation.

Operators sourcing from standard and high risk countries or parts of countries are subject to the same standard  due diligence obligations. The only difference is that shipments from high-risk countries will be subject to enhanced scrutiny from competent authorities (9% of operators sourcing from high-risk areas). In that sense, drastic changes of supply chains are not warranted or expected. Furthermore, high risk classification will entail a specific dialogue with the Commission to address jointly the root causes of deforestation and forest degradation, and with the objective to reduce their level of risk.

Aligned with the EU’s Global Gateway strategy, the Initiative aims to support partner countries to transition to sustainable, deforestation-free, and legal agricultural value chains. Collaborative effort of European Commission and EU Member States including Germany, the Netherlands and France, with an initial package of €70 million in funding to implement the Initiative.

See more about the Team Europe Initiative