THE European Union Parliament has provisionally delayed its EUDR deforestation laws for a further 12 months.

On Friday the European Parliament and the EU Council’s presidency reached a deal on what it called ‘targeted revision’ to the EU regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR), delaying any direct impact on Australian beef and lamb exports for a further 12 months.

The proposed delay still has to formally pass through the European Parliament, but is likely to follow the direction, European media has suggested.

In addition to the postponement, the changes announced on Friday would introduce further simplification measures, focusing on reducing administrative burdens while preserving the objectives of the regulation, officials said in a statement.

The move follows a similar 12-month extension made this time last year.

The aim of the extension is to simplify the implementation of the existing rules and postpone their application to allow operators, traders and authorities to prepare adequately, the EU Parliament said.

“Following concerns from member states and stakeholders about the readiness of companies and administrations, as well as about technical issues related to the new information system, the co-legislators supported the Commission’s targeted simplification of the due diligence process,” it said.

The co-legislators also removed the ‘grace period’ initially proposed by the Commission for large and medium companies, opting instead for a clear extension of the application date for all operators until 30 December 2026, with an extra six-month cushion for micro and small operators.

As recently as late October, EU Parliament officials were still hinting that the legislation would go ahead on 1 January next year. Australian red meat industry representatives at the time suggested the ‘least risky’ approach was to prepare for an implementation date of 1 January 2026 . That meant product on the water in October destined for EU markets would have had to be covered by a Due Diligence Statement.

The delay has particular implications for Australian beef and lamb exports to EU countries, but also extends into secondary products like hides and skins.  

As of September, less than half of Australia’s EUCAS-eligible livestock producers had signed up to the Integrity Systems Company’s EUDR Geolocation sharing tool, with slow adoption and resistance from producers making it difficult for exporters to meet EUDR requirements before the original 1 January deadline.

Similarly, Australian cattle hides either destined for direct sale into EU countries or sold into China for processing into leather goods ultimately bound for the EU, also remained exposed to the EUDR legislation. Worth noting, this applies to hides from all Australian cattle – not specifically to EUCAS eligible herds as for boxed beef sales.

Key measures

The provisional political agreement announced on Friday now means there’s an additional year for economic operators’ (ie beef or lamb exporters) preparations before the EUDR entry into application.

The key points:

• The entry into application has been set to 30 December 2026 for large and medium operators, while for micro and small operators, the entry into application is on 30 June 2027
• Streamlined obligations for downstream operators and traders: These operators and traders will no longer need to submit due diligence statements, nor to pass on the reference numbers further in the supply chain. Only the first actor downstream will collect a due diligence reference number.
• A simplified one-off declaration for micro and small primary operators from low-risk countries will apply. It replaces the previous need for due diligence statement submissions in the IT system. Where the required information is already available in databases set up under EU or Member States legislation, and Member States make available the relevant data in the EUDR IT system, micro and small primary operators are exempted from submitting the simplified declaration.

Main elements of the agreement

Under the agreement, the obligation and responsibility to submit the required due diligence statement will fall exclusively on the operators who first place the product on the market. The legislators have agreed that only the first downstream operator in the supply chain will be responsible for collecting and retaining the reference number of the initial due diligence statement, rather than passing it on further down the chain.

The simplified declaration for micro and small primary operators was also clarified. These operators will only submit a one-time simplified declaration and will receive a declaration identifier, which will be sufficient for traceability purposes.

The European Commission will now conduct a simplification review and present a report by 30 April next year. The report will evaluate the impact and administrative burden of the EUDR, particularly for smaller operators, and indicate ways to address the identified issues, including through guidelines and improvements to the information system, the statement said.

The provisional agreement will now have to be endorsed and formally adopted by both institutions before entering into force, replacing the current EUDR.

The EUDR regulation on deforestation-free products originally entered into force in June 2023 with the aim of ensuring that certain commodities, such as cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya and wood, and their derived products exported to the EU market have not caused deforestation or forest degradation.