Human Rights Watch on Thursday urged The European Commission called for a revision of the text of its anti-deforestation regulation, scheduled to be implemented by the end of 2026, after critics condemned the legislation for its potentially devastating exclusion of leather, a key driver of forest destruction.
Luciana Téllez Chávez, senior environmental researcher at Human Rights Watch, commented on the unpredictable consequences that could arise from the leather exclusion: “It is hard to overstate the transformative effect that the prospect of the regulation has had in hotspots of deforestation and rights abuses…For this momentum to continue, we need to see solid implementation and not unwarranted exclusions.”
The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), adopted in 2023, aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss through increased use of “without deforestation” products and through stricter supply chain due diligence requirements for companies that bring goods such as livestock, coffee and soy onto the EU market. Under the regulation, companies are commissioned to provide authorities with accurate geographical location coordinates, which include the latitude and longitude of the area in which the goods were manufactured.
The regulation also ensures that operators and traders who want to sell their products are subject to a penalty Routine checksFailure to comply will result in fines of at least 4% of annual EU turnover, confiscation of their goods and temporary bans. Three years after its implementation, statistics show that the regulation has been extremely effective. It is estimated to reduce EU-caused deforestation by 29% by 2030. When assessing the traceability of certain goods, the regulation was approx 50% of the world’s cocoa already geolocated.
However, significant practical and logistical hurdles remain Geolocation of soyalthough current high-resolution models can pinpoint its origin to within 120 miles (192 kilometers). Since then, the regulation has been amended twice, the first in December 2024 and the second in December 2025. With these changes, the EU aimed to make it easier for companies to comply with the measures, with the next compliance deadline being December 2026.
Significant changes are certainly visible in regions with tropical forests, for example in the state of Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo Introduction of a moratorium on new permits for oil palm plantations after the EU applied external pressure. For example, government officials in the state of Pará, Brazil, explained that the introduction of the first individual Cattle traceability system in the Amazon was due to the desire to suppress competition from Asian and EU countries.
At the beginning of May the Commission announced a public consultation Regarding a draft law that would change the list of products covered by the regulation, it is planned to exclude leather. This decision was considered inconsistent as it would exclude beef from cattle raised on illegally deforested land from the EU market, while their leather could be imported freely. Livestock breeding remains the leading cause of deforestation worldwide, and the long-term impact of this law once passed remains to be seen.
