Understanding the EUDR (as a supplier)
Overview
You do not need to be an EUDR expert to work with your EU buyers. This page gives you just enough understanding of the regulation to see why you are asked for the data you provide.
🟢 Why this matters. Knowing the reason behind the requests makes them faster to answer and easier to get right. Your buyer handles the compliance itself; your part is providing accurate data about your goods and the land they came from.
What the EUDR is
The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is an EU law that keeps products linked to deforestation out of the EU market. To sell certain goods into the EU, your buyer must show that they are deforestation-free, produced legally, and traceable to the land they came from.
Why your buyer needs data from you
Your buyer cannot prove any of that without you. Only you know exactly where your goods were produced and can provide the evidence. That is why they send you data requests for your production locations and documents.
The ideas that affect you
- Deforestation-free. The goods must come from land that was not deforested after 31 December 2020. This is why the exact plot location matters.
- Geolocation of plots. Your buyer needs the coordinates of the land where the commodity was produced. This is what Production Locations is for.
- Commodities in scope. The regulation covers seven commodities, cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya, and wood, and products made from them. If you supply these, you are in scope.
- Legal production. Documents showing the goods were produced lawfully.
What you are responsible for (and what you are not)
- You provide accurate data: production locations, documents, and product details.
- Your buyer runs the risk assessment and files the Due Diligence Statement with the authorities. You do not need to master the law or file anything with the EU yourself.
ℹ️ For the full legal text, see the consolidated EUDR. You will not usually need it; the steps in this section cover what to do.