February 9, 2024
The European Parliament have enacted a new law called the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), (EU) 2023/1115 aimed at fighting climate change and biodiversity preservation. Effective December 30, 2024, and replacing the existing EU Timber Regulation, the EUDR places a ban on the import of products that are linked to deforestation and forest degradation.
The regulation will be applicable to products and commodities produced on or after June 29, 2023, except timber products produced before the aforementioned date, which must be placed on the EU market before December 31, 2027. Goods produced entirely from end of lifecycle material, which would otherwise be discarded, are excluded. The new regulation is designed to protect forests which cover land spanning over 0.5 hectares, with mature trees higher than 5 meters, and a canopy cover of more than 10%.
The legislation is directed at companies, or their authorized representatives, that place relevant products onto the market. This is another piece of legislation that could affect Crane Worldwide when acting under Indirect Representation or providing fulfilment services for a non-established client since it is possible that Crane Worldwide would be regarded as the EU representative.
Any Importers/Exporters who may be affected by this piece of legislation must be made aware, since the failure to comply will result in costly penalties.
It will be prohibited to place a relevant commodity or relevant product onto the EU market if the product or one of its ingredients derive from a product that comes from arable land that has been deforested after December 31, 2020. Therefore, unless the following conditions have been met, the traders will not be permitted to bring any of the products or commodities into free circulation:
The expectation of the importer or representative is to exercise due diligence and submit a due diligence statement prior to placing one of the products onto the market. This means a product cannot be imported into free circulation if it is non-compliant, is a non-compliance risk, or the client is unable to fulfil the conditions.
Importers of such products are then given 18 to 24 months (depending on the size of the company) to take remedial actions to meet the compliance requirements.
Importers or their representative will be expected to retain records of the products imported as follows:
NOTE: Member states have an obligation to police the regulation, therefore, it is likely that regular checks will be conducted. Expect authority holds and checks to take place without warning.
Penalties for non-compliance:
The commodities listed below are regarded as the “relevant commodities & Products-Refer to EU2023/1115 Annex I”:
This Regulation does not apply to goods if they are produced entirely from material that has completed its lifecycle and would otherwise have been discarded as waste.
Global Trade Compliance will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as soon as they become available. For more information, please contact GTC: globaltradecompliance@craneww.com.
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