What is it?
EUDR stands for the EU Deforestation Regulation. It’s a new legislation introduced by the European Union (EU) in 2023 to help protect forests and the environment. The regulation is part of the EU Green Deal.
The main goal of EUDR is to ensure that products sold in the European Union do not cause deforestation (cutting down forests) or damage forests no matter where in the world those products come from.
To do this, companies must collect and share detailed information about where certain products come from. They need to gather following information:
- Geo-location of all plots of land where commodity was produced.
- Country of production.
- Contact information of business or person who either has supplied or has been supplied with product.
- Evidence to be able to verify that products are deforestation-free.
- Detailed product description and quantity of the relevant product.
Based on this information, they need to create and submit a due diligence statement towards the European Union to officially state that the product is deforestation-free.
With the new EUDR rules, companies need to collect a lot of details about their products, like their origin, and this data need to be shared with multiple trading partners along the supply chain. GS1 standards make this easier by helping companies:
• Identify products and locations with a worldwide unique identifier.
• Standardise data collection.
• Keep track of products every step of the way.
• Share information clearly and securely.
This makes it simpler for businesses to follow the EUDR rules and show that their products don’t harm forests.