The EU Commission has signalled that it will postpone the EU Deforestation Regulation once again. The application phase is now expected to begin in early 2027 instead of early 2026. The main reason given by the EU is technical problems with an IT system. However, the regulation has long been criticised by various parties.

The aim of the regulation is to ensure that there are „deforestation-free supply chains“ in the EU economy. To achieve this, companies and retailers must prove that no forests have been cleared for their products. The business community is particularly critical of the associated high verification and documentation requirements, which would overburden small and medium-sized companies in particular. Forest owners are particularly affected, as they are now also faced with extensive reporting and documentation obligations in private forests. The business community and corresponding associations have long been in favour of a „zero-risk category“ for products and regions where the risk of deforestation can be classified as very low. This would particularly affect EU countries such as Germany, which do not have a deforestation risk as defined by the Regulation due to their forestry legislation and the corresponding regulations on forest conversions - but have nevertheless had to fulfil the corresponding obligations to date. They should not be required to provide evidence in order to reduce the bureaucratic burden. It remains to be seen whether the postponement now announced will actually be used solely to eliminate IT problems or whether the content of the regulation will be tightened up once again.