The head of the State Forest Resources Agency, Viktor Smal, explained why the European Parliament is proposing to postpone the EUDR regulation, what new deadlines for its implementation are being considered by European MPs, and what this means for Ukrainian businesses.
“The European Parliament voted to postpone the implementation of the EUDR requirements for one year. As a reminder, it was supposed to come into force for large operators and traders on 30 December 2025, and for small and micro-enterprises on 30 June 2026. Now the European Parliament is proposing new dates: 30 December 2026 for large operators and traders and 30 June 2027 for small and micro-enterprises,” said the head of the State Forest Resources Agency.
He added that this is not the first time the implementation of EUDR rules has been postponed. In particular, this regulation came into force on 29 June 2023, after which the European Commission assessed the readiness of member states and businesses for its implementation. On 2 October 2024, the European Commission proposed to postpone the implementation of the new rules by one year. Now the situation is repeating itself.
‘MEPs explain the postponement by the need to have additional time to ensure a smooth transition to the EUDR requirements, as well as to strengthen the IT system that will be used to submit electronic applications for due diligence,’ explained Viktor Smal. According to him, the following procedure will apply: the European Parliament will begin negotiations with member states on the final version of the text of the decision to postpone the EUDR. After that, it must be approved by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, and after publication in the Official Journal of the EU, the one-year postponement will take effect by the end of 2025. “If this decision is finally adopted, Ukrainian exporters will have another year to prepare for compliance with the EUDR requirements, i.e. to be ready to document that the harvesting of timber exported to the EU has not caused deforestation or soil degradation. The State Forest Resources Agency team is already prepared to help exporters quickly put together the necessary documents, as we have been working on this for a long time with the aim of meeting the 30 December 2025 deadline. So we are waiting for news from the EU and preparing for the implementation of the EUDR – even if it is a year away,” concluded the head of the State Forest Resources Agency.
