Implementation of the European Regulation EUDR: Consultations with the European Commission Held

Representatives from the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture, Verkhovna Rada (Parliament), the State-owned Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine", as well as the State Forest Resources Agency (SFRA) team and key stakeholders, held an online meeting with representatives of the European Commission regarding the terms and conditions for implementing the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).

"We communicated with our European colleagues in a Q&A format and learned the latest news from the EU. I reminded the European Commission representatives about our national software products that we already use and which will help us work under the EUDR requirements: the e-logging ticket, e-waybill (e-TTN), e-certificate of timber origin, and the EOD system. However, we had a number of questions for which we wanted to hear answers from our European colleagues," Head of the State Forest Resources Agency, Viktor Smal noted.

Specifically, they discussed potential changes in the implementation deadlines for the EUDR, as well as the documentation requirements for Ukrainian exporters.

"The European Commission is considering the possibility of postponing the entry into force of the regulation due to purely technical reasons. Consultations with the European Parliament are currently underway. However, European Commission representatives emphasize that there is currently no proposal for a delay. The current understanding is that the EUDR will enter into force at the end of this year for large and medium-sized enterprises, and six months later for small and micro-enterprises," Viktor Smal reported.

He added that the European Commission has not specified a list of mandatory documentation that Ukrainian exporters must possess, as it must comply with the norms in force in the country of operation. That is, the regulation does not contain a concrete list of mandatory documents, and the operator must independently assess whether the provided documents meet the EUDR requirements.

There are also no restrictions on the language of the documentation provided by Ukrainian exporters. The only requirement is that the operator must understand the content of the documentation, so if they understand Ukrainian or have the ability to translate the documents, there will be no objections. Nevertheless, the State Enterprise "Forest Inventory and Planning Center" (LIAC) is translating the user's electronic cabinet functionality into English.

"Our work to prepare for the implementation of the EUDR regulation continues. For my part, I proposed starting a regular technical dialogue with the European Commission for complete synchronization and verification of our digital solutions' compliance with the regulation's requirements. I hope for continued cooperation and sincerely thank you for the support," the Head of the State Forest Resources Agency concluded.