The European Commission has proposed a 12-month extension to its EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) legislation to give coffee farmers more time to comply with the law.
EUDR will require businesses importing products to the EU considered ‘main drivers for deforestation’ – including coffee, cocoa, palm oil, paper and wood – to produce a due diligence statement that imports have not contributed to forest degradation anywhere in the world after 31 December 2020.
The legislation was due to come into force on 30 December 2024, but has faced significant opposition, including from prominent coffee groups the European Coffee Federation (ECF), International Coffee Partners (ICP) and the International Coffee Organization (ICO), over a lack of time for coffee businesses and farmers to meet the requirements.
The extension, which requires approval from the European Parliament, would make the law applicable on 30 December 2025 for large companies and 30 June 2026 for micro and small enterprises.
In a press release, the European Commission acknowledged widespread concerns about the state of readiness among coffee farmers globally, as well as the ‘uneven’ preparedness among European stakeholders. The additional 12-months ‘can serve as a phasing-in period to ensure proper and effective implementation’, it added.
However, the Commission also stressed that the extension proposal ‘in no way puts into question the objectives or the substance of EUDR’ which it said is ‘paramount’ to adequately address the EU’s contribution to deforestation.
The European Commission has also released additional guidance to support coffee farmers with EUDR implementation, with topics ranging from traceability obligations and legality requirements to updates on penalties and clarifications on critical definitions such as ‘forest degradation’, ‘operator’ in the scope of the law, and ‘placing on the market’.
The EU body has also published the principles of the methodology it will apply to the EUDR benchmarking exercise, including how it plans to classify countries as low, standard, or high risk. The country benchmarking system will be finalised by July 2025.
