The European Parliament has voted to postpone the start dates for new European Union rules aimed at reducing deforestation linked to products such as cocoa, coffee, palm oil and soya.
Under the changes approved by 405 votes to 242, with eight abstentions, large companies will have until 30 December 2026 to comply with the EU Deforestation Regulation, while small businesses and individuals with fewer than 50 employees and under €10 million in turnover will have until 30 June 2027, the parliamentary press service report on Wednesday.
The regulation requires businesses that first place covered products on the EU market to conduct due diligence, a process for verifying that products are not linked to deforestation.
Companies further down the supply chain will not be required to submit these due diligence statements.
Some rules for micro and small primary operators have been simplified, with a one-time declaration now required instead of repeated submissions. Printed products have been removed from the regulation’s scope, the latest figures show.
Clearer rules and extended deadlines
The new timeframe is intended to give businesses more time to adapt and to allow updates to the digital system they will use for compliance declarations.
The European Commission will also present a report by 30 April 2026, assessing the law’s impact and any administrative burden, particularly for smaller businesses, the Parliament stated.
The EU’s original deforestation regulation, adopted in April 2023, seeks to curb environmental harm by ensuring that certain products consumed in the bloc do not contribute to global forest loss.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 420 million hectares of forest — an area larger than the EU — were lost to deforestation worldwide between 1990 and 2020.
Around 10 percent of global deforestation is associated with EU consumption, with palm oil and soy making up over two-thirds of this figure, according to the UN FAO and data cited by the European Parliament.
The changes to the regulation will come into effect once they are endorsed by EU member states and published in the EU’s Official Journal before the end of 2025.
