EUDR Update
The 5th iteration of the Frequently Asked Questions and the 3rd iteration of the Guidance on the EU Deforestation Regulation, with the changes intended to cut the costs of compliance. This is expected to be the final simplification package before EUDR starts to apply at the end of this year (for large and medium companies)
The clarified FAQs (3.1, 3.4) confirm that downstream operators and traders are not exempt from the regulation. They must collect and keep information about their direct business partners (suppliers and customers) for at least five years, and non-SME downstream operators and traders must register in TRACES. Where a direct supplier is an upstream operator, downstream operators also need to collect the associated DDS reference numbers or declaration identifiers.
The TRACES system is due to begin a phased relaunch from next month. Planned updates include functionality for registering revised operator roles, as well as simplified one-off declarations for micro and small primary operators.