Why the EUDR has been delayed again
A couple of months ago, we wrote about the EU Deforestation Regulation and the risks it poses if ambition isn’t matched by practical implementation. Since then, there’s been a further shift in the timeline.
Earlier this month, the European Parliament voted in favour of delaying the start of the EUDR by another twelve months. If the final legal steps are completed in time, large and medium companies would now need to comply from 30 December 2026, with micro and small enterprises following from 30 June 2027.
This is the second delay since the regulation was passed.
What’s driving the delay
The primary issue is readiness. The EUDR depends on a central EU IT system to handle due diligence statements across seven commodities, including coffee. EU institutions have acknowledged that the system, and the processes around it, are not yet capable of handling the volume and complexity involved.
There is also a broader practical challenge. The regulation is designed to cover very different supply chains, from industrial agriculture to smallholder-led systems with fragmented land ownership and informal trading structures. Applying a single compliance model across all of them has proven more difficult than initially expected.
Changes to how the regulation will work
Alongside the delay, the EU is moving to simplify parts of the regulation.
Responsibility for submitting due diligence statements is expected to sit primarily with the first operator placing goods on the EU market, rather than being repeated at every stage of the supply chain. Administrative requirements for micro and small businesses are also set to be reduced, with a further review of simplification measures planned for April 2026.
The aim is to make compliance more achievable without changing the regulation’s core objectives.
What this means for coffee
For the coffee sector, the extra year creates both opportunity and risk.
Additional time allows producing countries, exporters, and roasters to build traceability systems more carefully. Farm mapping, data standards, and compliance pathways take time to develop, particularly in origins dominated by smallholder production. Rushed systems risk being expensive, exclusionary, or controlled by a small number of actors.
At the same time, repeated delays create uncertainty. Some businesses slow investment or wait for further changes, while farmers and exporters continue preparing for requirements that keep shifting, often without clarity on who will bear the cost.
What hasn’t changed
The core requirement of the EUDR remains the same. Coffee placed on the EU market will need to be linked to land that was not deforested after 31 December 2020 and must comply with relevant laws in the producing country.
What we’ll be watching
The key question over the next year is how this time is used.
If the delay helps build traceability systems that are accessible, transferable, and backed by real support for smallholders, it could strengthen the regulation. If it simply postpones difficult decisions or shifts pressure further upstream, the same structural risks remain.
We’ll continue to follow how this develops and what practical support reaches producing countries.
