On 21 October 2025, the European Commission presented a proposal to amend the deforestation regulation. On 19 November, the EU Member States reached an agreement on their position regarding the proposed changes. Among other things, the Member States have suggested postponing the regulation’s entry into force by another year, until the end of 2026.
The European Parliament will vote on its position on the Commission’s proposal during the last week of November. After that, the legislators will negotiate a common view, and the changes to the content of the deforestation regulation will be clear by mid-December.
We will analyze the impact of these changes on our operations and our customers after the decisions are finalized. We will publish more information as soon as the analysis is complete. If no agreement on the regulation’s content is reached by 30 December 2025 and the regulation enters into force in its current form, Metsä Group is prepared to operate in accordance with the original regulation.
The EUDR covers commodities such as wood in addition to certain other commodities identified in the Regulation. In the case of wood, the derived products such as pulp, sawn timber, paperboard, tissue paper and several other products are covered.
EUDR requires operators and traders to have a Due Diligence (DD) system in place to ensure that the products comply with the Regulation. Operators and traders are required to submit a Due Diligence Statement (DDS) in the EU TRACES system, operated by the European Commission.
The TRACES system assigns reference and verification numbers to the wood and derived products subject to the DD statement. These numbers must be then provided forward in the supply chain.
Metsä Group’s operating model is complient with the EUDR and the currently available versions of the guidance documents provided by the European Commission. Metsä Group continues to follow new versions of the official guidance from the European Commission, the national competent authorities and legislators, and adjusts its operating model if needed.
In our operating model, we will provide the EUDR Reference Numbers and related Verification Numbers for our customers.
Metsä Group will make information available to customers to assist with ascertaining that due diligence has been properly carried out when receiving the EUDR reference numbers.
Metsä Group follows the legislative developments closely and continues its EUDR implementation plan accordingly. Metsä Group EUDR webpages will be updated on a regular basis.
