Supporting EUDR Compliance Through Regional Sustainability Standards

The report assesses how the African Organization for Standardisation (ARSO) can align its regional agriculture and forestry standards with the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) to protect market access for African producers. While ARSO possesses a strong governance framework and chain-of-custody requirements, it lacks mandatory forest conversion cut-off dates, plot-level geolocation mapping, and public transparency regarding audit methods. The document argues that updating these standards to match EUDR's strict no-exemption rules and data requirements is essential for African exporters to meet compliance deadlines by late 2026 for large companies and mid-2027 for smaller enterprises.

• ARSO's existing governance framework provides a credible foundation for EUDR alignment through its use of multistakeholder structures, independent conformity assessments, and continuous improvement mechanisms.
• Current ARSO standards are incompatible with EUDR because they lack a mandatory cut-off date for forest conversion and allow certain forestry conversion exceptions that the EUDR does not permit.
• While ARSO standards include chain-of-custody and segregation for downstream traceability, they fail to require the plot-level geolocation or polygon mapping necessary for EUDR land-use verification.
• A lack of public access to standard documents, audit methods, and grievance procedures undermines the transparency required for EU buyer due diligence.
• African exporters face critical compliance deadlines under the EUDR, with large companies required to comply by late 2026 and smaller enterprises by mid-2027.

APA

Verma,, R. (2026). Supporting EUDR Compliance Through Regional Sustainability Standards. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/eudr-compliance-sustainability-standards

Chicago

Verma,, Rupal. Supporting EUDR Compliance Through Regional Sustainability Standards. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2026. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/eudr-compliance-sustainability-standards.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Verma, |first1=Rupal |title=Supporting EUDR Compliance Through Regional Sustainability Standards |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=12 March 2026 |url=https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/eudr-compliance-sustainability-standards |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{verma2026supporting, author = {Verma,, Rupal}, title = {{Supporting EUDR Compliance Through Regional Sustainability Standards}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2026}, month = mar, url = {https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/eudr-compliance-sustainability-standards}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }