On 29 June 2023, EUDR entered into force. Affected commodities are cattle, wood, cocoa, soy, palm oil, coffee, rubber, and some of their derived products, such as leather, chocolate, tyres, or furniture. EUDR applies to all products placed on the market from 30 December 2024 (30 June 2025 for small businesses). Any operator or trader who places these commodities and products on the EU market, must be able to prove the following as mentioned in the Article 3 of the EUDR

Commodities that were produced illegally, on land deforested after 31 December 2020 or that is not traceable, do not comply with the rules and cannot be placed on the EU market. Compliant commodities must be stored separately than those that are of unknown origin or are not compliant.

The European Commission is expected to publish additional guidelines in 2024 covering specific aspects of the EUDR that will address definition of agricultural use, agroforestry and agricultural land, certification, legality and other relevant issues. These additional guidelines are planned to be published before the EUDR goes into full enforcement in December 2024.

On 23 February 2022, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a Directive on corporate sustainability due diligence. On 24 May 2024 the Council of the European Union approved the political agreement, thereby completing the adoption process.

The core elements are identifying and addressing potential and actual adverse human rights and environmental impacts in the company’s own operations, their subsidiaries and, where related to their value chain(s), those of their business partners. In addition, the Directive sets out an obligation for large companies to adopt and put into effect, through best efforts, a transition plan for climate change mitigation aligned with the 2050 climate neutrality objective of the Paris Agreement as well as intermediate targets under the European Climate Law.

The Directive will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. Member States will have two years to transpose the Directive into national law and communicate the relevant texts to the Commission. One year later, the rules will start to apply to companies, with a gradual phase-in between 3 and 5 years after entry into force.

A set of guidelines to be issued by the Commission will help companies to conduct due diligence. View proposal here.

The Directive is expected to be enforced in 2027*

*Subject to EU’s final decision.