EU Regulation on Deforestation-free products (EUDR): What Lies Ahead in 2026?

In late 2025, the EU postponed the application of the EU Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR) for the second time. Under Regulation (EU) 2025/2650, the EUDR is now scheduled to enter into application on December 30, 2026.

This Legal Update discusses the likelihood of re-opening of the EUDR for further simplification. We also address other key implementation milestones expected in 2026, namely adoption of the draft Delegated Regulation, expansion of the EUDR's product scope, and revisions to the FAQs and Guidance documents.

Will the EUDR be Reopened for Further Simplification?

The second postponement of the EUDR's entry into application differed significantly from the first. After extensive feedback from businesses on the EUDR compliance burden throughout 2025, the European Parliament introduced amendments substantially easing compliance for downstream players (the "December 2025 Amendments"). It also requested that by 30 April 2026 the European Commission carry out a simplification review of the EUDR and present a report to the European Parliament and to the Council along with a legislative proposal, where appropriate. As follows from Recital (14) to Regulation (EU) 2025/2650, the Commission's report "should evaluate the administrative burden and impact of that Regulation, in particular for micro or small operators. Furthermore, in the report, the Commission should indicate possible ways to address the identified issues, including through technical guidelines, improvements to the IT system, and delegated or implementing acts in accordance with the delegation of powers…"

Despite this mandate, reopening the EUDR for further simplification appears unlikely. This has been communicated by the Commission to stakeholders during the 38^th meeting of the EUDR Expert Group held on 11 December 2025. In January 2026, Commissioner Jessika Roswall stated that the Commission does not favour another reopening of the EUDR, but is "committed to make the 'April 2026 review clause' a success."  As reported by EURACTIV, this position was reiterated at the 39^th meeting of the EUDR Expert Group held on 10 February 2026: no revision of the core text of the EUDR, but "targeted tweaks to simplify implementation."

These tweaks are expected to be introduced via revisions to the EUDR FAQs and Guidance, adoption of a Delegated Act amending Annex I (the listing of in-scope products), and revisions of the Implementing Regulation on the Information System (collectively, the "April 2026 Simplification Package").

Will the Commission Simplify Requirements to Comply with the EUDR's Legality Requirement?

The EUDR legality requirement mandates that relevant commodities and products placed or made available on the EU market or exported must have been produced in compliance with the applicable laws of the country of production.  It requires operators to collect "adequately conclusive and verifiable information" confirming such compliance and, where applicable, to perform risk assessment and risk mitigation.  Compliance with the EUDR legality requirement is one of the most complex burdens imposed by the Regulation which affects primarily operators importing relevant products to the European Union.

So far, the Commission has not publicly committed to revising its Guidance Document for the EUDR in part relating to compliance with the EUDR's challenging legality requirement. To recap, the Guidance explains that the obligation to collect "adequately conclusive and verifiable information" should be understood as including, where applicable[, collection of]: official documents issued by countries’ authorities, such as... administrative permits; documents showing contractual obligations, including contracts and agreements with indigenous peoples or local communities; complementary information issued by public and private certification or other third-party verified schemes; judicial decisions; impact assessments, management plans, environmental audit reports” and other documents that could be useful, such as “documents showing company policies and codes of conduct, voluntary self-declaration of producers of relevant commodities in which a producer declares that the product was produced in compliance with the legislation of the country of production, social responsibility agreements between private actors and third right holders, specific reports on tenure and rights claims and conflicts."

While checking compliance of the relevant products with the EUDR's legality requirement, as currently interpreted in the Guidance, the Competent Authorities of the Member States will require the operators importing relevant products to the European Union to produce documents that demonstrate compliance of each farm, estate, smallholder, cooperative, forester in the supply chain of specific relevant products (read: shipment quantity) with the legislation of the respective non-EU country with respect to (a) land-use rights; (b) environmental protection; (c) forest-related rules, including forest management and biodiversity conservation, where directly related to wood harvesting; (d) third parties’ rights; (e) labour rights; (f) human rights protected under international law; (g) the principle of free, prior and informed consent (“FPIC”), including as set out in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and (h) tax, anti-corruption, trade and customs regulations.

Compliance will be strictly enforced via checks as described in a brief description of the EUDR check process as well as in the results of 2025 EUDR dry-runs published by the NVWA, the Competent Authority of the Netherlands.

As a result, as highlighted in our October 2025 Legal Update on the EUDR developments, in practical terms, to comply with the EUDR's legality requirement, the operators importing relevant products to the European Union must conduct or arrange for a comprehensive annual audit of each and every producer (farm, smallholder, cooperative, forester) where the commodities are expected to be sourced, collect the audit reports, and analyse them. Here, certification schemes become indispensable. At this stage, there is no indication from the Commission on whether and, if so, how the burden of compliance with the EUDR legality requirement can be simplified.

Will the Commission Expand the Listing of the In-Scope Products?

While amendments to the EUDR introduced by Regulation (EU) 2025/2650 excluded from the scope of the EUDR products falling under Chapter 49 of the Commodity Nomenclature (i.e., printed books, newspapers, pictures and other products of the printing industry, manuscripts, typescripts and plans, of paper), new derivatives of palm oil and coffee are likely to be added to the product scope. As reported by EURACTIV, soap made of palm oil and instant coffee may be added to the listing of in-scope products (Annex I to the EUDR).

Inclusion of additional derivatives of palm oil and coffee does not require reopening of the regulation: under EUDR Articles 34(1) and 35 the Commission may adopt delegated acts to amend Annex I with regard to the relevant CN codes of relevant products that contain, have been fed or have been made using relevant commodities. Thus, soap made of palm oil and instant coffee may be added to the listing of in-scope products via the long-awaited Delegated Regulation, the first draft of which was published for public feedback back in May 2025.

A new version of the draft Delegated Regulation is expected to be unveiled by the Commission in April 2026 and will become a part of the April 2026 Simplification Package. Among other things, the Delegated Regulation will embed a number of exemptions from the scope of the EUDR, including with respect to samples, packaging used to support, protect or carry other products, accessory materials, used and second-hand products, waste, and will clarify EUDR's scope with respect to other products.

Also, in the course of 2025, numerous stakeholders,¹ MEPs,² addressed the Commission requesting exclusion of leather from the scope of the EUDR. This push continues in 2026.

Revision of FAQs and Guidance

Needless to say, the December 2025 Amendments simplifying the EUDR require a major overhaul of the Commission's lengthy EUDR FAQs and Guidance. Because the EUDR compliance must be tailored based on the place of a company in each particular value chain, the revisions to FAQs and Guidance would need to address a multitude of nuanced situations and answer many technical questions. We expect in particular the Commission to address the following questions:

• What are the obligations of operators importing a relevant product made outside of the EU from an EU-origin raw material exported by a downstream operator?
• Are traders re-selling relevant products placed on the Union market by non-EU operators required to submit due diligence statements under EUDR Article 7?
• If so, does referencing of the upstream due diligence statements remain possible?
• Are operators required to communicate to "first" downstream operators and traders verification numbers (passwords) along with reference numbers of due diligence statements?
• Will "first" downstream operators and traders have access to due diligence statements in the EUDR Information System?

These are important practical questions on which market participants would certainly benefit from further clarification.

Revamp of the EUDR Information System

The Commission imposed temporary limitations on access to the EUDR Information System for the period from 16 February 2026 until at least mid-April. During this time, the system will be updated in line with December 2025 Amendments. In parallel, the Commission will introduce amendments to the Implementing Regulation on the Information System.

Conclusion

While the release of the April 2026 Simplification Package should provide welcome clarity on many compliance issues, operators importing relevant products to the European Union cannot afford to wait. Importantly, although such clarifications will be helpful, they are unlikely to alter the fundamental EUDR compliance obligations that market participants must satisfy. Accordingly, operators importing relevant products to the European Union should continue implementing full-fledged EUDR compliance protocols without delay. Fine-tuning end-to-end supply chain traceability or establishing such from scratch, segregation of compliant and non-compliant relevant products at each junction of the supply chain, assessment of the deforestation-free status of plots of land, and—critically—compliance with the EUDR's legality requirement remain time-consuming processes that require the investment of significant resources. Waiting for regulatory guidance that is unlikely to materially change these core requirements would only compress the already limited time available to achieve compliance.