The following guidelines have been created by the European Commission to provide information to national authorities, EU operators and other stakeholders for the implementation of the Regulation on Deforestation Free Products (EUDR).
Due diligence statements must be submitted electronically in the deforestation registry created by the European Commission. These statements will be checked in the registry and by Member States' authorities.
1 - Growing
Commodities must be produced legally and be deforestation-free. Geolocation data of the area of production must be collected.
Commodities that were produced illegally, on land deforested after 31 December 2020 or that is not traceable, do not comply with the rules and cannot be placed on the EU market. Compliant commodities must be stored separately those that are of unknown origin or are not compliant.
2 - Trading and shipping
Deforestation-free and legal commodities must be kept separate from other goods while being traded and shipped. Mixing compliant and non-compliant commodities or commodities of unknown origin is not allowed. In such cases, the whole shipment would be non-compliant and cannot be placed on the EU market.
3 - Importing
Before placing a product on the EU market, the importer must perform due diligence.
The importer must also submit a Due Diligence Statement and will receive a reference number (and security token), which must be reported in the customs declaration for import.
Only compliant products may be placed on the EU market. The operator may place the product on the EU market when it has been released for import by the customs authorities.
4 - Producing
Large manufacturers of goods in the EU (e.g. chocolate manufacturers) must check that due diligence has been exercised upstream in the supply chain.
Large producers must check the Due Diligence Statement (DDS) of the commodity importer and submit their own DDS for their products, using the reference number of the upstream DDS. The operator then receives a new DDS reference number and security token.
5 - Selling or exporting products
Before selling the product on the EU market, large retailers must check that due diligence has been exercised upstream in the supply chain.
The retailer must check the DDS upstream in the supply chain and submit their own DDS based on all previous reference numbers. The trader then receives a new DDS reference number and security token.
Small companies (SMEs) do not need to check or submit due diligence statements for products that have been subject to due diligence further up the supply chain.