Companies get one additional year to comply with deforestation law

Companies will have one more year to adapt to new EU rules to prevent deforestation, which will ban the sale of products sourced from deforested land in the EU. Negotiators from the Parliament and Council reached a provisional political agreement to postpone the application of the new rules.

Large operators and traders will now have to respect the obligations of this regulation as of 30 December 2025, and micro- and small enterprises from 30 June 2026. The deforestation regulation aims to fight climate change and biodiversity loss by preventing the deforestation related to EU consumption of products from cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm-oil, soya, wood, rubber, charcoal and printed paper.

The Commission proposed postponing the application date of the deforestation regulation by one year in response to concerns raised by EU member states, non-EU countries, traders and operators that they would not be able to fully comply with the rules if applied from the end of 2024.

Following requests from Parliament, the Commission committed to ensure that both the Information System and proposal for the risk classification are available as soon as possible but not later than six months before the Regulation enters into application. In the context of the general review of the Regulation expected no later than 30 June 2028, the Commission will analyse additional measures to simplify and reduce administrative burden.