Was it produced legally?

The document analyzes the EUDR's legality requirement, arguing that it encompasses all laws affecting the legal status of production areas, including human rights and customary laws. It highlights systemic risks such as land grabbing, corruption, and weak enforcement in Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Indonesia, and recommends that EU companies move beyond official records to consult local experts and stakeholders to verify compliance.

• The legality requirement under the EUDR should be interpreted broadly to include all laws in the country of production that affect the legal status of activities used to produce relevant commodities, including pre-production, post-production, and the direct or indirect effects on the surrounding 'area of production'.
• Due diligence for the legality requirement must include an assessment of human rights protected under international law, including jus cogens norms and the right to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), regardless of whether the producer state is a monist or dualist legal system.
• EU operators cannot rely solely on official government records or third-party certifications, as these may be unreliable in jurisdictions with high corruption, document fraud, or weak law enforcement; instead, they must verify information through independent local stakeholders and experts.
• In Brazil, land grabbing is a systemic risk where the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) is used to fraudulently declare public lands as private; research indicates that nearly 30% of unallocated public forests are covered by illegal CAR registrations.
• Brazilian soy and cattle production are major drivers of deforestation, with 91% of forest clearing in the Amazon lacking legal authorisation between August 2023 and July 2024, and 51% of illegal clearing occurring in the Cerrado.
• In Côte d’Ivoire, cocoa production is highly informal and often encroaches on protected 'classified' forests; it is estimated that 30% of the country's cocoa originates from these prohibited areas.
• Ghana's cocoa sector is characterized by a pluralist legal system where customary law governs most land rights, and a lack of public zoning maps leads to frequent encroachment into forest reserves.
• The Indonesian palm oil industry faces systemic non-compliance with the mandatory Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certification, with some reports suggesting that roughly half of productive plantations lack the required certification.
• Corruption is a pervasive issue in the Indonesian palm oil sector, with the National Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) finding that many companies secured formal approvals to plant oil palms in forbidden forest areas.
• Child labour remains a significant risk in West African cocoa production, with 2020 estimates placing the number of children working in cocoa production at 790,000 in Côte d’Ivoire and 770,000 in Ghana.

APA

Rice, M., & Godts, R. (2025). Was it produced legally? ClientEarth. https://www.clientearth.org/media/b5cle4xn/was-it-produced-legally_clientearth_april-2025.pdf

Chicago

Rice, Michael, and Raphaëlle Godts. Was it produced legally? ClientEarth, 2025. https://www.clientearth.org/media/b5cle4xn/was-it-produced-legally_clientearth_april-2025.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Rice |first1=Michael |last2=Godts |first2=Raphaëlle |title=Was it produced legally? |publisher=ClientEarth |date=April 2025 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/b5cle4xn/was-it-produced-legally_clientearth_april-2025.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rice2025was, author = {Rice, Michael and Godts, Raphaëlle}, title = {{Was it produced legally?}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2025}, month = apr, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/b5cle4xn/was-it-produced-legally_clientearth_april-2025.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }