"EU Countries Vote to Delay Supply Chain Deforestation Law for Another Year", 21 November 2025

The European Council announced an agreement by EU member states to delay the implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) – a new law aimed at ensuring that products imported to or exported from EU markets no longer contribute to deforestation and forest degradation globally – by a year, and to introduce new simplification measures to ease compliance obligations for companies under the new law, beyond those recently proposed by the European Commission.

The Council’s position forms the basis of its negotiating mandate in upcoming negotiations with the EU Parliament on proposed changes to the EUDR regulation. If approved, the move would mark the second one-year postponement of the deforestation regulation, and would come just weeks prior to its scheduled implementation.

Earlier this week, several major companies operating in the areas targeted by the EUDR published a letter warning against further simplifications and delays, which they said would introduce new uncertainties for companies, and unfairly punish businesses which had already invested in systems to comply with the new regulations...

Lawmakers in the EU Parliament are expected to vote on their position on the Commission’s EUDR proposals next week, which will be followed by negotiations between Parliament and the Council in order to finalize and agreement before the current December 30 implementation date of the regulation.