Press release

Lawyers roll their eyes as EU Commission blames “IT issues” for another deforestation regulation delay 

 23 September 2025

ClientEarth lawyers have expressed frustration at the EU Commission’s decision to delay the implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) for the second time in a year, citing IT problems.

In a letter published today, Commissioner Roswall explained:
"Despite efforts to address the issues in time for the EUDR’s entry into application, it is not possible to guarantee that the IT system can handle the expected load. In view of this, the Commission is considering a postponement of the entry into application of the EUDR, currently foreseen for 30 December 2025, for one year […]

This postponement would add another year to the 12 month delay announced in autumn 2024. 

ClientEarth lawyer Michael Rice said:
"This would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic. The Commission is making a fool of itself by using its own inadequate IT system as an excuse to delay the world’s most important forest law for a second time in 12 months.  In the current era of rapid technological evolution, it is ludicrous that the administration of the world’s biggest single market apparently can’t handle the data.

“The EU Commission as well as all the member states have had more than enough time to prepare to implement this law – after all, they wrote and negotiated it. There has already been a year’s delay and businesses, member states and third country governments have invested huge amounts in reaching compliance on time. We’ve heard that small family farmers in remote parts of Cameroon and Indonesia can meet the law’s requirements and yet the European Commission can’t? It’s embarrassing”

"This law could finally address the EU’s role in driving global deforestation and help protect the world’s remaining forests and the Indigenous communities defending them. It is crucial in the fight against catastrophic climate change and biodiversity loss.

“We cannot hit pause on the climate crisis. Delaying this law actively prevents action, threatening Indigenous Peoples’ livelihoods and letting down millions of European citizens, as well as countless businesses and farmers who have invested to comply. It’s high time to take the rules seriously and implement them. "

ENDS

Notes to editors:

About the EU deforestation regulation

90% of global deforestation is linked to the production of just a few agricultural products that end up in our shops and supermarkets in some shape or form: products like beef, leather, soy – which is mainly fed to chickens, pigs and cows – palm oil, cocoa, coffee, rubber and timber. The EU doesn’t produce many of those products yet is a huge consumer of them – it is the second biggest importer of deforestation in the world through its import and consumption of these products.

1,2 million Europeans asked for a strong law to tackle imported deforestation.

The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) – adopted in  June 2023 – prohibits companies from putting products on the EU market unless they are deforestation-free, degradation-free and legally produced.

In February 2025, a report by Profundo highlighted that the costs of implementing the EUDR are negligible.

About the EUDR delays

In October 2024, the Commission announced its plan to delay the implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation by 12 months, pushing the deadline to December 30, 2025 This decision was later submitted to a vote in plenary session of the European Parliament.

The WWF’s Living Planet report 2024 already highlighted that such a delay risked crossing catastrophic tipping points with the Amazon  expected to collapse if 20-25% is deforested (we have already deforested 17%).

246 civil society organisations called on the European Parliament and all EU governments to reject the European Commission’s proposal to delay by 12 months the application of the EUDR.

In September 2025, nearly 200,000 citizens have asked the EU not to weaken EU environmental laws

Examples of global progress to achieve deforestation-free supply chains sparked by the EUDR

·         Position of SPKS – independent Indonesian oil palm smallholders – on the EUDR

·         Statement by Cameroon’s Minister of Commerce that the country’s cocoa and coffee sectors are ready for the EUDR.

·         statement by Vietnam’s Director of the Department of Forestry and Forest Protection that the Vietnamese wood industry fully complies with and actively responds to the EUDR;

·         Brazil’s National Coffee Council statement on the readiness of Brazilian coffee producers to satisfy EUDR requirements;

·         Costa Rica’s Sustainable Agrolandscapes Initiative that facilitates cross-sectoral compliance with EUDR requirements;

·         the risk-based due diligence guide for Colombian coffee cooperatives designed to support compliance with the EUDR;

·         the launch of Costa Rica’s National Forest Traceability System, designed to guarantee the legality and sustainability of timber as part of a national strategy to strengthen forest sector governance and satisfy EUDR requirements;

·         the establishment of the Honduran National Institute of Forest Conservation and Development and progress made in the coffee, palm oil and cocoa sectors to satisfy EUDR requirements;

·         Chile’s new national timber certification standard that incorporates standards designed to satisfy EUDR requirement;

·         the German Initiative Online Print eV’s EUDR-X open data standard for automated sharing of supply chain information in the print sector in accordance with the EUDR requirements;

·         Uruguay’s Environmental Value-Added System for Agricultural Production for the timber, soy and cattle sectors that centralises information to satisfy EUDR requirements;

·         the urgent directive from Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture to national agencies to ensure coffee producers can satisfy EUDR requirements;

·         efforts by Indonesian palm oil producers to enable smallholders in Borneo to satisfy EUDR requirements;

·         the Peruvian Caniari Amazonian Ecological Agricultural Cooperative already shipping EUDR-compliant cocoa to the EU;

·         establishment of the Brazilian WoodFlow system to support timber producers to satisfy EUDR requirements;

·         the Spanish Wood and Furniture Business Union’s Guide for the Implementation of the EUDR;

·         the Royal Association of Dutch Wood Enterprises’ Timber Checker for timber producers to satisfy EUDR requirements;

·         Vietnam’s Donaruco’s development of a raw material traceability system to support rubber producers to satisfy EUDR requirements;

·         establishment of the Argentinian VISEC CARNE business platform to support cattle producers to satisfy EUDR requirements;

·         India’s public traceability and certification systems for its soy producers to satisfy EUDR requirements;

·         Australian Meat Industry Council’s purpose-built geolocation system to support cattle producers to satisfy EUDR requirements;

·         Peru’s Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation program to map coffee and cocoa plots in 13 priority regions to facilitate cocoa and coffee producers to satisfy EUDR requirements;

·         establishment of Indonesia’s Ground.Thruthed.id platform to support palm oil and timber producers to satisfy EUDR requirements.

 

 

About ClientEarth

ClientEarth is a non-profit organisation that uses the law to create systemic change that protects the Earth for – and with – its inhabitants. We are tackling climate change, protecting nature and stopping pollution, with partners and citizens around the globe. We hold industry and governments to account and defend everyone’s right to a healthy world. ClientEarth teams in Europe, Asia and the USA work to shape, implement and enforce the law, to build a future for our planet in which people and nature can thrive together.