The EU Deforestation Regulation replaces the EU Timber Regulation with a broader, stronger compliance framework. Understand both regulations, how they compare, and what your business needs to do.
The EUDR requires all operators and traders placing regulated commodities on the EU market to prove that their products are deforestation-free (produced on land not deforested after 31 December 2020) and legally produced.
It replaces the EUTR and expands scope from timber alone to seven commodity groups. It introduces mandatory geolocation data, satellite-based verification, and a centralised digital submission system — the most comprehensive deforestation compliance framework in the world.
Products must come from land not deforested after this date. Set retroactively.
Published in the Official Journal. Implementation period began.
Regulation 2025/2650 extended deadlines by 12 months.
DDS mandatory. Checks begin. Penalties applicable. EUTR repealed.
SME traders must comply. SME operators already subject to Dec 2026.
Operators must complete this process before placing any regulated product on the EU market.
Product, HS codes, country, geolocation (WGS84, 6 decimals), suppliers. Art. 9.
Country risk, supply chain complexity, indigenous peoples, certifications. Art. 10.
Additional verification, audits, supplier engagement if risk is non-negligible.
Via EU Information System (TRACES NT). Receive reference number. Art. 4.
All documentation for minimum 5 years. Available to competent authorities on request. Art. 12.
Proportionate to environmental damage and product value. Strongest penalty framework of any EU environmental trade regulation.
Products seized. Revenue confiscated. Temporary exclusion from public procurement. Prohibition from placing products on the EU market.
The EUTR was adopted in 2010 and enforced from March 2013. It prohibited placing illegally harvested timber on the EU market and required operators to exercise due diligence — information gathering, risk assessment, and risk mitigation.
It covered timber and timber products only: solid wood, plywood, pulp, paper, and wooden furniture. It did not address deforestation, did not require geolocation data, and had no centralised reporting system.
Private entities recognised by the Commission provided pre-built due diligence systems. Operators could subscribe instead of building their own. Included NEPCon and national timber federations.
Created a compliance shield without rigorous implementation. The EUDR eliminates MOs entirely — operators are directly and solely responsible for their own due diligence.
Timber only. Did nothing about soya, palm oil, cattle, cocoa, coffee, rubber — which cause far more deforestation.
Legal deforestation was compliant. No deforestation-free requirement regardless of local law.
Country and region only. No coordinates. Satellite verification impossible.
Predated widespread monitoring. No mechanism to cross-check against Earth observation.
Internal documentation only. No standardised submission. Hard to enforce systematically.
Varied by Member State. Often modest fines. No mandatory check rates. Inconsistent enforcement.
When EUDR enforcement begins, the EUTR ceases to have legal effect. No grace period. All timber products must comply with the EUDR framework.
Whether you're preparing for EUDR enforcement or transitioning from EUTR, Plotwiser automates the entire due diligence pipeline.
Built-in satellite screening with multi-layer vegetation and land cover analysis. Automated change detection against the 2020 baseline.
GLEIF entity resolution, EU sanctions, 8-category country risk scoring, ownership mapping, AI compliance memos.
Documents auto-checked by AI — classification, validity verification, registry cross-referencing, expiry detection, and EUDR relevance scoring across 38 schemes. No manual review.
TRACES NT-compatible export with satellite evidence, risk verdicts, and legality checklists.
Autonomous agent that analyzes gaps, drafts supplier outreach, tracks responses, and drives resolution.
Full pipeline: screening → certification → traceability → DDS readiness. 5-year retention built in.
See how Plotwiser's AI-powered solution handles your entire due diligence pipeline — from satellite verification to DDS generation.
