Affected commodities include cocoa, coffee, palm oil, wood, beef and rubber. The original requirements caused a massive bureaucratic burden involving millions of geo-coordinates, satellite data and documentation obligations. Even during the trial phase, the EU’s IT systems regularly collapsed.
Under pressure from industry and the conservative groups (ESN, ECR & Patriots), a correction has now been achieved: downstream traders no longer have to submit their own due diligence statements. This obligation now lies only with the operator placing the goods on the market for the first time. In addition, the start date will be postponed: large and medium-sized companies from 30 December 2026, micro and small enterprises only from mid-2027.
The proposal was adopted by 405 votes in favour to 242 against. ESN MEP Anja Arndt commented:
“ESN and AfD delivered. We prevented tens of thousands of businesses from being suffocated by bureaucracy due to an unrealistic EU regulation. Companies gain time, planning certainty and liquidity — which also helps consumers through more stable prices.
But even the mere passing on of reference numbers on delivery notes will cause massive problems in practice: with wood, cocoa and coffee, hundreds of numbers accumulate along the supply chains, resulting in mountains of paperwork. The fact that this regulation now has to be postponed again shows a structural failure by the Commission. Rules were adopted without being implementable, and the economic consequences were simply ignored. That is exactly what we are fighting against.”
