The new EU Deforestation-free Products Regulation

The EU Deforestation-free Products Regulation imposes significant new obligations on EU Member States to ensure products consumed in the EU do not contribute to global deforestation. Member States must designate competent authorities within six months that possess adequate powers, functional independence, and resources. Within 18 months, they must establish national penalty rules that are effective, proportionate, and dissuasive, including fines of at least 4% of annual Union-wide turnover. The Regulation also requires the creation of annual risk-based compliance check plans and enhanced coordination between competent and customs authorities.

• EU Member States are legally required to designate one or more competent authorities within six months of the Regulation's entry into force. These authorities must be equipped with "adequate powers, functional independence and the resources to fulfil the obligations set out in [Chapter 3]" of the Regulation.
• Functional independence requires that competent authorities operate without external influence from public or private entities. This includes ensuring that the power to appoint or dismiss officers is not subject to broad discretionary power by government ministers, but is instead "regulated strictly by legislation" or based on "objective criteria which are clearly and exhaustively set out and verifiable".
• Member States must ensure competent authorities have stable and sufficient financial and human resources. This includes the capacity to perform minimum annual compliance checks on operators and non-SME traders at rates of 1%, 3%, and 9% for products from low, standard, and high-risk areas respectively, applied separately to each commodity group (cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soy, rubber, and wood).
• National penalty frameworks must be established and be "effective, proportionate and dissuasive". Mandatory penalties include the confiscation of non-compliant products and revenues, exclusion from public procurement and funding for up to 12 months, and monetary fines with a maximum set at "at least 4% of the operator’s or trader’s total annual Union-wide turnover".

APA

Rice, M., & Blumtritt, K. (2023). The new EU Deforestation-free Products Regulation. ClientEarth. https://www.clientearth.org/media/stefgl0p/briefing_new-eu-deforestation-reg_implications-for-member-states_may-2023.pdf

Chicago

Rice, Michael, and Kaja Blumtritt. The new EU Deforestation-free Products Regulation. ClientEarth, 2023. https://www.clientearth.org/media/stefgl0p/briefing_new-eu-deforestation-reg_implications-for-member-states_may-2023.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Rice |first1=Michael |last2=Blumtritt |first2=Kaja |title=The new EU Deforestation-free Products Regulation |publisher=ClientEarth |date=May 2023 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/stefgl0p/briefing_new-eu-deforestation-reg_implications-for-member-states_may-2023.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rice2023new, author = {Rice, Michael and Blumtritt, Kaja}, title = {{The new EU Deforestation-free Products Regulation}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2023}, month = may, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/stefgl0p/briefing_new-eu-deforestation-reg_implications-for-member-states_may-2023.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }