A political agreement was reached last night in the negotiations on amending the EU Deforestation Regulation. The start of the regulation’s application will be postponed by one year for large operators and by one and a half years for micro and small operators. In addition, several substantive changes will be made. The Finnish Forest Industries Federation stresses that companies need predictability in legislation to operate effectively.
According to the original timeline, the regulation was to be applied from the end of this year. Under the new agreement, companies subject to the EU Timber Regulation—essentially all producers of forest industry products—will begin applying the regulation on 30 December 2026. The content of the regulation will be amended to reduce obligations for micro and small primary producers as well as downstream processors. The precise impacts of these changes on companies are still being assessed.
Implementing the deforestation regulation has been challenging and has required significant investments from companies in IT systems, supply chain compliance, and training. Amending the regulation at this stage penalises frontrunner companies that have already made the necessary adjustments to meet the regulation’s requirements.
Unpredictable policymaking harms EU competitiveness
The European Commission will re-evaluate the regulation again by the end of April next year. In addition to this review, a new legislative proposal may be published to further streamline the regulation.
– The Forest Industries support the Commission’s efforts to streamline legislation, but companies need predictability to operate. It is vital that the Commission now helps companies comply with the amended requirements and publishes updated implementation guidelines and IT-system specifications as soon as possible, says Maija Rantamäki, Head of International and EU Forest Affairs at the Finnish Forest Industries Federation.
The negotiations on amending the regulation were conducted between the European Commission, the Council and the Parliament. The Parliament and the Council must still formally approve the outcome, after which the regulation will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and enter into force.
