The European Council and Parliament have reached a provisional agreement on a targeted revision of the EU regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR) with the aim of simplifying the implementation of the existing rules and postpone their application to allow operators, traders and authorities to prepare adequately.

The two European institutions said their mandates were "highly similar in postponing the application of the regulation and removing the Commission's proposed 'grace period' for large and medium sized companies.

The two, instead, opted for "a clear extension of the application date for all operators until 30 Dec 2026, with an extra six-month cushion for micro and small operators".

In addition, the European institutions said they aimed to introduce further simplification measures, focusing on reducing administrative burdens while preserving the objectives of the regulation.

Under the agreement, the obligation and responsibility to submit the required due diligence statement will fall "exclusively on the operators who first place the product on the market".

The co-legislators have agreed that "only the first downstream operator in the supply chain" will be responsible for collecting and retaining the reference number of the initial due diligence statement, without the obligation to pass it further down the chain.

The simplified declaration for micro and small primary operators was also clarified.

These operators will only submit "a one-time simplified declaration" and will receive a declaration identifier, which will be sufficient for traceability purposes.

Furthermore, both co-legislators underlined the importance of ensuring continued exchange with experts, stakeholders and all relevant operators on the implementation of the EUDR.

This, they said, should take place within the existing framework of the Commission expert group multi-stakeholder platform on protecting and restoring the world's forests.