The testing period will provide valuable feedback and observations about the system, to ensure it is easy to use, stated the EC. This initial pilot will be followed by a ‘train-the-trainers’ initiative in the summer of 2024, run in conjunction with EU member states, to further strengthen the EUDR information resource available to businesses and government agencies.

It will give all interested stakeholders further opportunity to familiarise themselves with the System well before the EUDR enters into application, said the EC. The Commission will then make available user manuals and other relevant self-learning material, such as video tutorials. It added that the System was designed to ‘facilitate the submission and processing of due diligence statements for ‘relevant operators, traders, competent authorities and customs to ensure a smooth transition the EUDR at the end of 2024’. These latest steps follow the launch of the Team Europe Initiative (TEI) on Deforestation-free Value Chains, announced at COP28 in December 2023.

The TEI is a collaborative effort between the EC and EU member states, headed by France, Germany, and the Netherlands, which will support partnerships between the EU and supplier countries to drive sustainable trade.

It will support an inclusive transition to sustainable, deforestation-free and legal supply chains and facilitate trade of commodities with the EU, said the EC. It will be based on a demand-driven approach from partner countries and offer a platform to enhance coordination amongst all stakeholders in their efforts to combat deforestation, as well as technical assistance and capacity building towards partner governments and producers on key issues, such as traceability, geo-localisation and land-use mapping.

An initial €70 million has been allocated to implement the TEI, which will see establishment of a Team Europe Hub on deforestation-free value chains as part of the Sustainable Agriculture for Forest Ecosystems programme (SAFE). This, said the EC, will serve as a central resource for information to partner countries to ensure coherence of actions in this domain’.

At the TEI launch, Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius said: The world is losing forests at a dizzying speed. The TEI will bring us all closer to achieving our shared goal of halting and reversing deforestation worldwide.

The EC is also committed to doubling external funding for global biodiversity by 2027, to €7 billion.