EU Deforestation Regulation

The EU Deforestation Regulation entered into force on 28 June 2023. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is the designated Competent Authority for Ireland. This page aims to help you figure out what the regulation means for you. The information shared should help you answer the following questions:

• What is the EU Deforestation Regulation?
• Does the regulation apply to me?
• What steps are required to comply with the EUDR?
• When will the regulation apply from and to whom?

Background

On 29 June 2023, the Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR) entered into force. The main driver of deforestation is the expansion of agricultural land linked to the production of commodities like cattle, wood, cocoa, soy, palm oil, coffee, rubber, and some of their derived products, such as leather, chocolate, tyres, or furniture. As a major economy and consumer of these commodities linked to deforestation and forest degradation.

Under the Regulation, any operator or trader who places these commodities on the EU market, or exports from it, must be able to prove that the products do not originate from recently deforested land or have contributed to forest degradation. Detailed information on the rationale for the European Union introducing this regulation can also be found HERE.

The Regulation on deforestation-free products repeals the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR). For timber products produced before the entry into force of the EUDR on 29 June 2023, the EUTR will continue applying until 31 December 2027. For other products and timber products produced after entry into force of the EUDR, the EUTR will be repealed when the EUDR enters into application. You can Find out more about implementation measures and tools

Objectives of the Regulation

In order to minimise the EU's contribution to global deforestation and forest degradation – and thus to reduce greenhouse gases and preserve biodiversity – relevant raw materials and products may only be placed on the market, made available or exported from the EU if:

• they are deforestation-free,
• they have been produced in accordance with the relevant legislation of the producing country, and
• a so-called due diligence declaration is available for them.

Deforestation-free means that the relevant raw materials must not have been produced on land that was deforested after 31 December 2020 or, in the case of timber and timber products, that the timber was felled from the forest without forest degradation occurring there after 31 December 2020.

Start of application:

The start of application of the EUDR is December 30th 2025 for medium & large enterprises. Small and Micro Enterprises have a further six months to prepare for when the regulation applies to them on 30th June 2026. You can find more detailed information on this here:

Factsheet for SMEs ; Factsheet for EUDR Compliance.

The EU Commission published a guidance document on the application of the EUDR in October 2024 and a new FAQ on the Regulation in April 2025. Both guides are available for you to read and download.

• Guidance document to EUDR application
• FAQ of the EU Commission
• Read the EUDR Myth-buster
• See our factsheet for SMEs
• All further information from the EU Commission on the EUDR can be found here.

Anyone who has to submit a due diligence declaration due to the new EU Regulation for Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR) will in future submit it digitally in an IT system provided by the EU Commission.

Operators placing relevant products on the market receive a reference number when submitting a due diligence statement, which they need for the placing, import or export of relevant products. This reference number is passed along the supply chain. The submitted due diligence statements are checked by the competent authorities of the member states. The final version of the EU information system has been available since November 2024 and operators, non-SME Traders and their authorised representatives have been able to post due diligence statements since December. Details of the Commission Information System, how to register and login can be accessed here: The Information System of the Deforestation Regulation - European Commission. A downloadable user guide is also available: User Guide EU Information System (PDF, 2 MB, File does not meet accessibility standards)

Four webinars were held in 2024 that you can view below. The Department is also regularly meeting sector specific stakeholders, answering questions from individual operators or traders and representing Ireland at EU fora such as the Multistakeholder Platform on Deforestation and at the European Council.

If you cannot find the answer to your question here, please send us an e-mail to eudr@agriculture.gov.ie . We will answer your request as soon as possible.

Related links

· Deforestation homepage

· EU rules against illegal logging

· Cooperation with partners

· Guidelines for businesses and authorities on the implementation of the Regulation

EUDR Webinar June 18th

A stakeholder webinar was held on June 18th on the EU Deforestation Regulation 2023/1115. This webinar provides an introduction and background to the EUDR and looks more closely at work flow examples for wood and cattle. -

EUDR Webinar August 27th

The second stakeholder webinar was held on August 27th 2024. This webinar provides updates on the EU Deforestation Regulation and examines Cattle, Coffee and Cocoa as three of the commodities that are within the scope of the Regulation.

EUDR Webinar October 22nd

The third webinar in this series was held on 22nd October 2024. It provides information on the proposal to postpone the application date of the regulation by one year; recent communications from the European Commission; updates on Benchmarking, the Frequently Asked Questions and the Guidance Document.

EUDR Webinar December 16th 2024

The fourth webinar in this series was held on 16th December 2024. This webinar provides the latest updates on the EU Deforestation Regulation, a presentation from Revenue on the Customs related aspects of the EUDR, and examines Rubber as one of the commodities that are within the scope of this Regulation.

Please see YouTube Webinar below

EU Deforestation Regulation Webinar 16th December 2024

Frequently Asked Questions

As part of the webinar stakeholders submitted several written questions. In order to facilitate information sharing for operators and traders to whom this regulation applies this department has reviewed those questions. The answers provided in the document below address the main subject areas raised during the webinar and are principally taken directly from the European Commissions most recent iteration of their Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

Contact Us

If you have any queries or questions with respect to this regulation please note the following commodity specific contact points within the Department:

• For general queries on the EUDR regulation overall email eudr@agriculture.gov.ie
• For queries with respect to Cattle email beefandsheeppolicy@agriculture.gov.ie
• For queries with respect to Coffee email EUDRCoffee@agriculture.gov.ie
• For queries with respect to Cocoa email EUDRCocoa@agriculture.gov.ie
• For queries with respect to Rubber email EUDRRubber@agriculture.gov.ie
• For queries with respect to Wood email EUDRwoodproducts@agriculture.gov.ie
• For queries with respect to Soy or Oil Palm email feedenquiries@agriculture.gov.ie

To ensure your question is addressed by the appropriate division in a timely fashion, it is important that you note the contact email address relevant to your commodity and send any correspondence you have to the right contact point.