Buyers press EU on EUDR
Major food companies including Nestlé, Mars Wrigley and Ferrero have urged the European Commission not to dilute the EU Deforestation Regulation, signalling that big buyers prefer clear and stricter sourcing rules. That corporate push suggests compliance capability is becoming a non‑negotiable element of procurement, not a temporary burden. (pulpapernews.com).
Some of the world’s biggest chocolate and snack buyers are telling Brussels to stop softening the forest rules they spent years preparing for. Nestlé, Mars Wrigley and Ferrero are among the companies pushing the European Commission not to reopen or delay the European Union Deforestation Regulation again. (pulpapernews.com, euractiv.com) That is unusual because companies usually lobby to weaken supply-chain laws, not preserve them. In this case, brands that buy cocoa, palm oil and paper are saying the bigger risk is another round of uncertainty after they already paid to build compliance systems. (pulpapernews.com, esgtoday.com) The law they are defending is simple in concept and brutal in paperwork. If a company wants to sell certain goods into the European Union, it must show those goods did not come from land deforested after 31 December 2020 and that the production was legal in the country of origin. (environment.ec.europa.eu, eeas.europa.eu) The list covers seven big forest-linked commodities: cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soy and wood, plus many products made from them, from chocolate to furniture to printed paper. Each shipment needs a due-diligence statement, which is filed through the European Union’s online information system. (environment.ec.europa.eu, green-forum.ec.europa.eu) The hardest part is location data. Companies have to collect geolocation coordinates for the plots of land where the commodities were produced, which turns a cocoa bean or a log into something closer to a tracked parcel with a birth certificate. (eeas.europa.eu, green-forum.ec.europa.eu) Brussels already gave companies extra time once. A European Commission proposal announced on 3 October 2024 shifted the main start date to 30 December 2025 for medium and large companies and to 30 June 2026 for micro and small businesses. (ec.europa.eu) Then the law was revised again in December 2025. The European Union’s new amending regulation required the Commission to carry out a simplification review and present a report by 30 April 2026, while also trimming some low-risk printed products out of scope. (consilium.europa.eu, eur-lex.europa.eu) That review is why the letter landed now. The companies are trying to stop “simplification” from turning into a second political fight over the core rules just weeks before the Commission’s April 2026 report is due. (pulpapernews.com, consilium.europa.eu) There is a business reason for that stance. Once a buyer has built mapping tools, supplier databases and contract clauses around one rulebook, a moving target can cost more than a strict target, because every supplier check and software workflow has to be rewritten. (ec.europa.eu, green-forum.ec.europa.eu) It also changes who gets to stay in the chain. A farmer cooperative or trader that can provide plot coordinates, legality documents and traceable records becomes easier to buy from than a rival selling the same cocoa or palm oil with missing data. (green-forum.ec.europa.eu, eeas.europa.eu) So the fight in Brussels is no longer just “business versus regulation.” Part of big business now wants the regulation locked in place, because in 2026 compliance is starting to look less like a temporary headache and more like the price of admission to sell forest-risk goods into Europe. (pulpapernews.com, environment.ec.europa.eu)
