‘Negligible risk’ has now been defined

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A new guidance document has clarified several key parts of the EUDR

EUDR guidance summary

• A new guidance document has been released for the EUDR
• It defines the key term negligible risk
• It also confirms the existing deadline of 30 December, with the deadline for small or micro undertakings as 30 June 2026
• It outlines which local laws are relevant to the EUDR
• Finally, it clarifies that the deforestation relevant to the regulation is only deforestation done for agricultural use

The upcoming EUDR is still the subject of fierce debate. Governments, companies and EU politicians have all criticised the legislation, with many fighting for changes to its scope.

Now, the European Commission has released an updated guidance document on the EUDR. The document maintains the original timeline (many had been calling for a second delay), clarifies several other elements of the regulation, and defines “negligible risk”.

What is negligible risk?

A product is of negligible risk if, after a full assessment is made of it, it is concluded that there is no cause for concern about its links to deforestation.

The due diligence process required for a commodity to achieve a negligible risk is streamlined for lower risk countries, with fewer steps required, as long as operators can be sure all elements of the relevant product was produced within the low-risk country in question.

However, if they receive information suggesting that the commodity isn’t compliant, the process is no longer streamlined.

Non-SME operators must check that proper due diligence was carried out upstream. This does not necessarily involve checking each due diligence statement individually, the guidance document clarifies, but can mean simply ascertaining that suppliers have an operational and up-to-date due diligence system in place.

Other clarifications

The guidance document made several other clarifications regarding the EUDR.

Despite discussions of a further delay, the new guidance document clarifies conclusively that the deadline is still 30 December 2025, with the 30 June 2026 deadline for small or micro undertakings.

It clarifies which local laws are relevant to the legislation: those pertaining to the area of production. These include land use rights, environmental protections, forest related rules such as those around biodiversity conservation, traditional land use rights for indigenous people and labour rights applying to those in the area of production. Operators must ensure that they are aware of the relevant legislation.

Furthermore, it clarifies that the EUDR’s provisions are mostly complimentary with the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), but when they conflict, the EUDR takes precedent.

Finally, it stresses that a product is only deforestation-linked if the deforestation in question is done in service of agricultural use. Forest removed for uses other than agricultural use does not come under the regulation’s definition of “deforestation”.