EUDR Product Scope Changes: New Exemptions, Removals and What They Mean for Your Business
If you have been trying to work out whether your products fall under the EU Deforestation Regulation, there is an important update you need to know about.
The European Commission has published a draft Delegated Act proposing changes to Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2023/1115. Annex I is the list that determines exactly which commodities and derived products are in scope, and the proposed changes are significant. New exemptions are on the table, certain products are being removed, others are being added, and longstanding ambiguities around product classification are finally being addressed.
The public consultation closes on 1 June 2026. The changes are not yet final, but every business with EUDR exposure should understand what is being proposed now, not after the deadline passes.
This article breaks down what is in the draft, what it means for your business, and what you still need to do regardless of how the scope changes land.
What the EUDR Covers: The Current Scope
Before addressing the proposed changes, it helps to understand the existing framework clearly.
Under Article 1 of the regulation, the EUDR applies to products placed on the EU market, made available within the EU market, or exported from the EU. This applies to relevant products listed in Annex I that contain, have been fed with, or have been made using relevant commodities.
The seven relevant commodities are, as defined in Article 2(1): cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya, and wood.
Each commodity has an associated list of relevant products in Annex I, tied to Combined Nomenclature (CN) codes. The key product categories currently in scope include:
Cattle: Live cattle; fresh or chilled meat; frozen meat; edible offal fresh or chilled ; edible cattle livers frozen; frozen edible offal excluding tongues and livers; other prepared or preserved meat and meat offal of cattle; raw hides and skins; tanned or crust hides; and leather.
Cocoa: Cocoa beans; cocoa shells and waste; cocoa paste; cocoa butter, fat and oil; cocoa powder; chocolate and food preparations containing cocoa.
Coffee: Coffee, whether or not roasted or decaffeinated; coffee husks and skins; coffee substitutes containing coffee in any proportion.
Oil palm: Palm nuts and kernels; palm oil and its fractions; crude palm kernel and babassu oil and fractions; oilcake and residues from extraction of palm nuts or kernels; glycerol of high purity; palmitic acid, stearic acid, their salts and esters; certain saturated acyclic monocarboxylic acid derivatives; and industrial fatty acids and alcohols.
Rubber: Natural rubber in primary forms; compounded unvulcanised rubber; vulcanised rubber thread and cord; conveyor and transmission belts; new pneumatic tyres; and certain retreaded tyres.
Soya: Soya beans; soya bean flour and meal; soya-bean oil and its fractions; oilcake and solid residues from soya-bean oil extraction.
Wood: Fuel wood, wood in chips/particles/sawdust; wood charcoal; wood in the rough; sawn or chipped wood; sheets for veneering and plywood; wood flooring strips; particle board and oriented strand board; fibreboard; plywood and veneered panels; densified wood; pulp and paper (excluding bamboo-based and recovered/waste products); furniture with wooden parts; and prefabricated buildings of wood.
Note: the line covering printed books, newspapers, and other printing industry products was deleted from Annex I by Regulation (EU) 2025/2650 and is no longer in scope. For a full account of how and why printed books were removed from EUDR scope, see our earlier articles: EUDR Updates for Books and Publishing and EUDR for Books: What Publishers Must Know.
Annex I also includes a pre-existing exclusion worth noting: the regulation does not apply to goods produced entirely from material that has completed its lifecycle and would otherwise be discarded as waste, with the exception of by-products from a manufacturing process that involved non-waste material.
The Draft Delegated Act: What Is Being Proposed
The Commission has published the draft Delegated Act for public feedback, with a consultation deadline of 1 June 2026. The proposals fall into four categories: new horizontal exemptions, specific product removals, product additions, and scope clarifications.
New Horizontal Exemptions
These are proposed exemptions that would apply across all commodity categories, regardless of which commodity the product is derived from.
1. Samples and products used for examination, analysis, or testing
Products brought into the EU specifically for evaluation, laboratory analysis, or testing, and not for commercial sale, would be exempt from EUDR obligations. This clarification is particularly relevant for importers and manufacturers that ship small quantities for quality control or regulatory testing purposes. .
2. Single-use packing materials and packing containers
This is one of the most significant proposed exemptions for brands and importers. Single-use packaging and packing materials, including those made from wood or other EUDR-regulated commodities, would be excluded from scope.This means materials such as cardboard boxes, paper void fill, and single-use wooden pallets would not trigger EUDR due diligence obligations on their own.
3. Reusable packing materials and containers
The same exemption is proposed for reusable packaging and containers. This is notable given the PPWR’s simultaneous push toward reusable packaging: the draft Delegated Act would ensure that compliance with the PPWR’s reusability requirements does not inadvertently create additional EUDR exposure for wood or paper-based reusable packaging formats.
4. Marketing and information materials
Printed catalogues, brochures, leaflets, display materials, and similar items would be exempt, even where they are made from paper (which falls within the wood commodity chain). Brands operating across EU markets have been concerned about whether paper-based marketing collateral triggers the EUDR. This exemption would settle the question.
5. Waste
Products being placed on the market as waste would be exempt. This reinforces the existing Annex I provision regarding waste materials, extending it more explicitly to the scope of in-scope products.
6. Used and second-hand products
Products that have already been placed on the EU market and are being resold in their used state would not re-trigger EUDR obligations at the point of resale. This is relevant for second-hand goods platforms, refurbishers, and circular economy business models.
7. Items of correspondence
Letters, parcels, and similar items are proposed to be explicitly excluded from scope.
Specific Product Removals
The draft proposes changes to two product categories currently in scope under the rubber and cattle commodity categories.
Retreaded tyres — scope narrowed, not removed. The existing Annex I entry covering retreaded or used pneumatic tyres, solid or cushion tyres, tyre treads, and tyre flaps (ex 4012) is proposed to be replaced with a narrow entry covering only tyre treads (ex 4012 90 30). The EUDR obligation will continue to apply to the new rubber tread material applied during the retreading process, but will no longer apply to the retreaded tyre as a finished product. For tyre manufacturers and distributors, this is a meaningful narrowing rather than a full removal.
Cattle hides, skins and leather — removed. The three entries covering raw hides and skins of cattle (ex 4101), tanned or crust hides and skins of cattle (ex 4104), and leather of cattle further prepared after tanning or crusting (ex 4107) are proposed for deletion. This will be particularly important for the leather goods, footwear, and accessories industries. These sectors have been dealing with complex EUDR compliance requirements because their supply chains are often long and involve multiple downstream stages.
Specific Product Additions
The draft adds three product categories to scope:
Soluble coffee — instant and freeze-dried coffee products, which were not previously listed explicitly, would be added under the coffee commodity category.
Certain palm oil derivatives — including soap made with palm oil. This extends the oil palm product scope to include more processed derivatives. Cosmetics and personal care brands that use palm oil-derived ingredients in their formulations should review this carefully.
Certain palm oil derivatives (oleochemicals) — a series of oleochemical HS codes derived from oil palm are added to the oil palm product list, including certain fatty alcohols, certain acetic acid esters, palmitic and stearic acid derivatives, industrial fatty alcohols, and other chemical products and preparations containing or made using oil palm. Cosmetics, personal care, and chemical manufacturing businesses that use palm oil-derived ingredients should review their specific CN codes carefully against the final Annex I.
Frozen cattle tongues — fresh cattle tongues are already covered under existing Annex I entries for edible offal. However, frozen cattle tongues are not currently in scope. The draft inserts a new entry to bring frozen cattle tongues explicitly within scope, on the basis that excluding their frozen form creates an incoherent approach and may result in relocation rather
than elimination of deforestation risk.
The ‘ex’ Prefix Clarification
The draft introduces an “ex” prefix to several Annex I entries where it did not previously appear. This is a technical change, but it has important practical implications.
In CN code terminology, the “ex” prefix means that only part of the products covered by that CN code fall within scope. More specifically, it only applies to products made from a relevant commodity. Without the prefix, the Annex I wording could be interpreted as covering every product under that CN code, regardless of the raw material used.
This means products that share a CN code with in-scope products, but are actually made from non-relevant commodities such as coconut oil, bamboo, or other non-regulated materials, would be clearly confirmed as out of scope. This helps remove some of the uncertainty that has created unnecessary compliance concerns, particularly in the cosmetics, food ingredients, and materials sectors.
Species Clarifications
The draft also proposes clarifications to make it easier to identify which animal and plant species fall under each commodity category. This is particularly relevant for businesses working with natural rubber alternatives and within the cattle supply chain, where uncertainty around species classification has created interpretation challenges.
What Has Not Changed
The proposed Delegated Act does not alter several things that remain fixed:
The seven core commodities remain unchanged. Cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya, and wood are still the foundation of the regulation. No commodity has been removed from scope.
The compliance deadline is confirmed. The European Commission stated that there will be no third postponement. Under the consolidated text of the regulation, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2025/2650, the compliance deadline is 30 December 2026 for most operators. Micro and small undertakings that were established by 31 December 2024 have until 30 June 2027 to comply, unless they were already covered by the EU Timber Regulation.
The due diligence framework is unchanged. Operators placing relevant products on the EU market must still carry out due diligence under Articles 8 to 11. This includes collecting the required information, conducting a risk assessment, and applying risk mitigation measures where necessary.
The regulation still applies to the full Annex I product list. The proposed exemptions and removals are targeted. The vast majority of products currently in scope remain in scope.
The draft is not yet final. Public feedback closes 1 June 2026. The final Delegated Act may differ from the current draft. Businesses should not make definitive compliance decisions based solely on proposed exemptions that have not yet entered into force.
Who This Affects and What You Should Do Now
If your exposure is primarily through packaging materials:
The proposed exemption for single-use and reusable packaging materials is directly relevant here. If wood or paper-based packaging is your only exposure to the EUDR, and this exemption is adopted as currently drafted, your products may end up outside the scope. That said, this is still not confirmed, so it’s important to carry out and document your scope assessment regardless.
If you deal in leather goods, footwear, or accessories:
The proposed removal of cattle skins and hides is significant. Monitor the outcome of the public consultation and the final Delegated Act closely.
If you operate in cosmetics, personal care, or food manufacturing using palm oil derivatives:
The addition of soap and certain palm oil derivatives to scope means your exposure may increase. Review your formulations and supply chain against the final Annex I once the Delegated Act is adopted.
If you distribute or retail products that are currently in scope:
Your obligations as a trader under Article 5 of the regulation stay the same. As an SME trader, you still need to collect and retain the reference numbers of due diligence statements from your upstream operators, and pass them on to your downstream customers. Your compliance position ultimately depends on whether the operators before you in the supply chain have completed valid due diligence.
If you are an operator placing products on the EU market:
Nothing in the draft Delegated Act changes your due diligence obligations under Articles 8 to 11. You still need to collect the required information on where your products were produced, assess the risk of non-compliance, and take steps to reduce that risk where necessary before placing products on the market.
The Compliance Infrastructure You Need in Place
Regardless of where the product scope lands once the Delegated Act is finalised, operators placing in-scope products on the EU market from 30 December 2026 must have the following in place:
1. A documented due diligence system covering information collection (Article 9)
2. Risk assessment (Article 10)
3. Risk mitigation (Article 11).
Due diligence statements must be submitted to the EUDR Information System before products are placed on the market. The Information System is currently being taken offline for upgrades and is expected to reopen in June 2026 with new functionalities, including support for simplified declarations for operators sourcing from low-risk countries.
For operators sourcing exclusively from countries classified as low-risk under Article 29, simplified due diligence applies: a full risk assessment and risk mitigation measures are not required, unless information emerges that points to a risk of non-compliance.
For operators sourcing from standard-risk or high-risk countries, the full due diligence process applies. Country risk classifications have not yet been published by the Commission for all sourcing countries, but the Commission has committed to launching supporting repositories before the December 2026 deadline.
How Euverify Can Help
Euverify works with brands, importers, and online sellers to assess EUDR obligations, determine your role in the supply chain, and build a due diligence framework that is proportionate, documented, and ready for enforcement.
Whether you are reviewing your scope position in light of the proposed Delegated Act, building out your due diligence system for the December deadline, or simply trying to understand whether the EUDR applies to your business at all — we can support you at every stage.
This article is based on Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 as consolidated on 26 December 2025 (incorporating amendments by Regulation (EU) 2024/3234 and Regulation (EU) 2025/2650), and on the European Commission’s May 2026 simplification package including the draft Delegated Act on Annex I product scope changes, which is open for public consultation until 1 June 2026. The proposed changes discussed in this article are not yet final and are subject to change. This article does not constitute legal advice.
