Is the EUDR delayed? Current status and every confirmed date

No further delay. The dates below are the ones to plan against.

Both dates come from Regulation (EU) 2025/2650, agreed by the Council and Parliament in December 2025. In May 2026 the Commission published a simplification package that cut the compliance burden substantially but left the application dates untouched.

What actually happened, in order

1. 29 Jun 2023

   Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 enters into force

   The EUDR replaces the EU Timber Regulation and extends the same logic to seven commodities. Application is set for 30 December 2024.

2. Dec 2024

   First postponement: twelve months

   With the information system incomplete and operators unprepared, Parliament and Council push application to 30 December 2025, and 30 June 2026 for micro and small companies.

3. 4 Dec 2025

   Council and Parliament agree a targeted revision

   Rather than simply delaying again, the co-legislators tie a second postponement to a mandated simplification of the due-diligence process.

4. 18 Dec 2025

   Second postponement adopted: Regulation (EU) 2025/2650

   Application moves to 30 December 2026 for large and medium companies and 30 June 2027 for micro and small ones. The Commission is required to deliver a simplification review by 30 April 2026.

5. 4 May 2026

   The simplification package lands

   The Commission publishes its measures: a simplified due-diligence statement for micro and small primary operators, voluntary grouping, an upgraded information system, and an updated product scope that brings in soluble coffee and further palm oil derivatives. The Commission estimates roughly a 75% cut in annual compliance costs against the original regulation, and confirms it will not reopen the text.

6. 13 Jul 2026

   The information system reopens

   Both the production and the acceptance environments are available, so statements can be filed and rehearsed. The Commission adopts the implementing act governing the system on the same day.

7. 14 Jul 2026

   The information system rules are amended: Regulation (EU) 2026/1565

   In force from 17 July 2026. It adds a simplified declaration for micro and small primary operators, carrying a declaration identifier that is separate from the due diligence statement reference number. It allows grouping, where one statement absorbs earlier ones. Every submission is risk-profiled automatically, and the reference number is released only once that finishes.

8. 20 Jul 2026

   The guidance document becomes a Commission Notice

   Published as C/2026/3896 in all 24 official languages. The substance is unchanged: agroforestry is still excluded from the definition of forest, and a plot holding both forest and farmland is still assessed as two separate areas.

9. 15 Oct 2026

   Statements are routed by place of establishment

   From this date a due diligence statement goes to the competent authority of the Member State where the operator is established. For operators outside the Union it follows the Member State tied to their unique identifier.

10. 30 Dec 2026

    Application begins for large and medium companies

    From this date no listed product may be placed on, or exported from, the EU market without a due-diligence statement filed through the information system.

11. 30 Jun 2027

    Application begins for micro and small companies

    Micro and small primary operators in low-risk countries get simplified obligations, including relief from continuous DDS submission.

Why people keep expecting another delay

Two postponements in two years taught the market to wait. That instinct is now the main compliance risk in the category, for three reasons.

• The second delay was not free. It came bundled with a simplification mandate that the Commission has since delivered. The political trade that bought the extra year has been paid out, which removes the obvious mechanism for a third round.
• The Commission has said it will not reopen the text. That is an unusually direct signal, and it was made after the simplification package rather than before it.
• The work is front-loaded regardless. Geolocating plots, reaching suppliers and cooperatives, and assembling defensible evidence takes one or two full harvest cycles. Waiting for certainty about December 2026 means missing the seasons you needed to prepare in.

What changed in the May 2026 package

The dates did not move, but the work did get lighter, particularly at the small end of the market.

• Simplified due-diligence statement for micro and small primary operators.
• No continuous DDS submission for micro and small primary operators located in low-risk countries.
• Voluntary grouping, letting businesses file collectively rather than individually.
• Updated product scope: soluble coffee and further palm oil derivatives brought into Annex I. If you assessed your scope before May 2026, re-check it.
• An upgraded information system, addressing the technical problems that drove the second delay.

The scope change catches people out. A roaster who concluded in 2025 that soluble coffee sat outside the regulation reached a correct answer that is now wrong. Scope has moved once; treat it as something to re-verify each season rather than a decision you made and filed away.

What to do between now and December

1. 1.Confirm your role and your date. Operator or trader, large or small. The two application dates are a year apart and the obligations differ. See who has to comply.
2. 2.Re-check your product scope against the amended Annex I, especially if your assessment predates May 2026.
3. 3.Start collecting geolocation now. This is the long pole. Plot coordinates have to come from suppliers, often smallholders, often without digital records, and often only during a specific window in the season.
4. 4.Establish your country classifications and work out which of your chains qualify for simplified due diligence. Check the benchmarking list.
5. 5.Run a dry filing. Assemble one complete DDS end to end for a real consignment. Everything that is going to be missing will surface there, and it is much cheaper to find in August than in January.

Sources

• Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 on deforestation-free products
• Regulation (EU) 2025/2650, second postponement and targeted revision, adopted 18 December 2025
• European Commission simplification package, 4 May 2026
• Council of the EU press releases, 4 and 18 December 2025