Supporting EUDR Compliance Through Regional Sustainability Standards

This report evaluates the agriculture and forestry standards of the African Organization for Standardisation (ARSO) against the requirements of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). It identifies strengths in ARSO's governance and traceability frameworks while highlighting critical gaps in geolocation data, forest conversion rules, and transparency that must be addressed to protect African exporters' market access to the EU.

• The African Organization for Standardisation (ARSO) possesses a strong governance framework characterized by independent conformity assessments, multistakeholder structures, and mechanisms for continuous improvement, which serves as a credible foundation for EUDR alignment.
• ARSO's current standards are incompatible with EUDR regarding forest conversion because they lack a mandatory cut-off date and allow for limited forest conversion exceptions, which the EUDR does not permit.
• While ARSO standards include segregation and chain-of-custody requirements for downstream traceability, they fail to require the polygon mapping or plot-level geolocation necessary for land-use verification under the EUDR.
• A lack of transparency regarding audit methods, grievance procedures, and standard documents limits the utility of ARSO standards for due diligence; making this information public is necessary to meet the expectations of EU regulators and buyers.
• The EUDR establishes a global reach with specific compliance deadlines: large companies must 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} }