The European deforestation regulation applies at the end of this year for large and medium operators. Half our range is concerned, the other half is not — and saying so plainly is more useful than a blanket claim.
The dates
Compliance is due on 30 December 2026 for large and medium operators, and on 30 June 2027 for micro and small ones — except those already covered by the EU Timber Regulation, which come in on 30 December 2026 as well.
The text has been amended twice, in December 2024 and December 2025, to reduce the administrative burden. The simplifications changed the paperwork, not the principle.
What is in scope
The regulation covers cattle, wood, cocoa, soy, palm oil, coffee and rubber, together with products derived from them.
In our catalogue that means cocoa, coffee and soybean — and soybean meal, which is a derived product. Raw cashew nuts, sesame and shea are not covered. That may change in a future revision; as things stand today, it does not, and we would rather say so than let a buyer assume otherwise.
What is actually required
The operator placing the goods on the European market must be able to prove that they do not come from land deforested or degraded after 31 December 2020, and must hold geolocation data for the plots of production.
The obligation sits with the importer, not with the exporter. Which is precisely why the importer will turn to the exporter for the coordinates and the legality evidence: the duty is European, the data is African.
What to settle in the contract
For a covered commodity, three points need to be agreed before the campaign rather than after the lot is bought: which party collects the plot geolocation, in what format it is delivered, and who bears the cost of collecting it at the level of the cooperative or the collector.
A lot bought without that agreement is a lot whose file may be incomplete on arrival — and an incomplete file holds a container at the port. Tell us at the quotation stage whether the destination is the European Union: it changes what we have to organise upstream, and it changes it before the purchase, not after.