Deforestation is a serious ecological and economic problem. As part of the EU’s Green Deal, the EU is taking a number of initiatives, including for sustainable forest management. One of the manifestations of this activity are the rules indicated in the so-called EUDR Regulation (Regulation 2023/1115 on the making available on the EU market and export from the Union of certain commodities and products associated with deforestation and forest degradation and repealing EU Regulation No. 995/2010).
The regulation lays down rules on the placing on the market and making available on the Union market, as well as on the export from the Union of the so-called ‘relevant products’. These are products listed in Annex I to the Regulation – cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soybeans and wood, as well as the products derived from them indicated therein.
The products concerned will not be allowed to be placed on the market, made available on or exported from the market unless they meet all of the following conditions:
- they do not cause deforestation;
- have been manufactured in accordance with the relevant regulations of the country of manufacture; and
- A due diligence statement was submitted in their case.
However:
- placing on the market – means making the relevant good or product available on the Union market for the first time;
- making available on the market means any supply of a relevant product, whether for consideration or free of charge, for distribution, consumption or use on the Union market in the course of a commercial activity.
In practice, the addressees of the obligations will be in particular obliged to:
- collect certain information, data or documents to demonstrate that no deforestation has been caused;
- implement risk assessment measures, in particular in the context of country of origin risk;
- possible risk mitigation measures;
- collect relevant due diligence statements;
- potential reporting and storage of documentation for control purposes.
Failure to comply with the provisions of the Regulation may result in sanctions, such as a turnover-related penalty or confiscation of goods.
Large and medium-sized enterprises should apply these regulations from 30 December 2024. Other entities – from 30 June 2025
The question arises whether these rules apply to the trade in pallets and cardboard packaging? On the one hand, these products are treated as relevant products. On the other hand, it seems that as long as they are not an independent object of trade and only packaging for other goods, the requirements of the Regulation should not apply to them. Therefore, we should wait for the development of practice in this area.
The Regulation can be found here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32023R1115.
