EUDR: Regulation on Deforestation-free Products

The global forest products industry is in a time of big changes to regulations, as well as political decisions which are impacting the flow of trade around the world. As businesses and jurisdictions make efforts to keep up with ongoing updates, staying current on the latest announcements is critical to their operations.

As such, the recent delay to implementation of the European Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) by the European Commission for another year was met with relief.

The Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 on deforestation-free products was initiated in summer of 2023:

“The main driver of deforestation is the expansion of agricultural land linked to the production of commodities. The EU is partly responsible for this problem and it wants to lead the way to solving it.”

“Under the Regulation, any operator or trader who places these commodities on the EU market, or exports from it, must be able to prove that the products do not originate from recently deforested land or have contributed to forest degradation. The Regulation on deforestation-free products repeals the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR).”

“For timber products produced before the entry into force of the EUDR on 29 June 2023, the EUTR will continue applying until 31 December 2027. For other products and timber products produced after entry into force of the EUDR, the EUTR will be repealed when the EUDR enters into application.”

For European and North American forest companies, this seemed like an unnecessary tertiary bureaucratic hurdle; as Canadian and US timber operators are already in compliance with the older EUTR regulations.

Indeed, almost all Canadian forest operators and sawmills have third-party verification of their forestry practices. More than a few are certified by two individual bodies. Since the timber procurement of most North American forest industry players is already subject to the strict oversight of international standards, and operators provide chain-of-custody certification as required by EUTR, having a third bureaucratic process to submit that same data seems like unnecessary duplication.

Apart from the additional cumbersome regulation, the reporting system set up for EUDR has been plagued by technical problems. Due to these, and other, concerns by industry and political leaders alike, the date for EUDR has been pushed back for another year, now to take effect in December 2026.

Certainly the greater scope of EUDR has merit, where it provides oversight for agricultural commodities like cattle, wood, cocoa, soy, palm oil, coffee, rubber, and some of their derived products, such as leather, chocolate, tyres, or furniture.

However lumping timber together with these other sectors is a duplication of the existing EUTR.

EU trade expert and timber supplier, Vasile Ianovici, out of Maramureş, Romania, detailed to Madison’s just some of the practical concerns for forest industry operators in Europe.

“It is worth mentioning that EUDR is aiming in protecting forest against illegal deforestation, and illegal deforestation is a matter of public order which is maintained by the public authorities on the ground.”

“But EU decided to impose on the private sector a huge burden that is normally a EU and state obligation,” explained Ianovici.

While this issue swirls around in lively debate, other jurisdictions are implementing their own chain-of-custody transparency.

Regions which previously had serious issue with illegal logging were years ago captured under EUTR thus could no longer export illegally-harvested timber to Europe, Australia, or the US, and have made great strides in putting into place their own certification requirements.

One such region is Nigeria, which is the largest timber producer in Africa with products like plywood, power poles, pulp, and paper, exported to countries such as China, the US, Germany, and Brazil.

In 2020, Nigeria produced over 2.13 million m³ of industrial roundwood, including valuable woods like mahogany and iroko, mainly from the southern states. From 2012 to 2023, Nigeria exported 4.2 million tonnes of timber to Asia, especially China, as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, which accounts for over 30% of global forest product trade.

In 2023, Nigeria became China’s third-largest plywood export market, with exports rising 72% to 291,000 m³ in the first half of the year.

Half of the timber exported from Nigeria to China is later shipped to the EU, North America, and the Middle East, further impacting global trade.

Recently Alaba Joseph Olajide, CEO of BlackCamel Energy, a pioneer member of the Nigerian Forest Traceability Network (FPT Network), provided an important update to Madison’s.

“BlackCamel Energy has introduced the NetZero Carbon Guilt-Free Seal, a breakthrough certification and traceability platform for the global timber and forest products sector.”

“Each certified product is issued a unique digital ID (via QR code) that provides buyers and regulators with real-time access to verified carbon data, mitigation activities, and audit reports.”

“The NetZero Carbon Guilt-Free Seal offers both market differentiation for producers and trust for buyers and consumers. It is a practical, scalable solution to accelerate the transition to net-zero supply chains in forestry and beyond. BlackCamel Energy Ltd is currently inviting collaborations with sustainability bodies, timber buyers, and verification agencies to scale the Seal across Africa, Europe, and Asia.”

This is a huge step forward in providing transparency for end-user importers of wood products.

As materials move between nations for processing, the eventual customer can be assured the original timber used was harvested in a sustainable, renewable, and certifiable way that is in compliance with the strictest of global standards.