EUDR terms, defined simply.

Grouped by what they describe: the regulation and what it covers, the land it is about, the people with duties, the obligations themselves, and the paperwork. Definitions of the legal terms are taken from Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 itself.

The regulation & what it covers

EUDR

The EU Deforestation Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2023/1115. It prohibits placing on the EU market, or exporting from it, certain commodities linked to deforestation after the 31 December 2020 cut-off date. The covered commodities are cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya and wood, along with some derived products.

Relevant commodities & relevant products

The regulation’s scope, in its own words. The relevant commodities are cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya and wood; the relevant products are the goods listed in the regulation’s Annex I that contain, have been fed with, or have been made using those commodities. If what you place on the market is on that list, the EUDR applies.

The land it is about

Deforestation

Defined narrowly and specifically: the conversion of forest to agricultural use, whether human-induced or not. It is that conversion (forest becoming farmland) that the regulation is built to detect, not tree-cover loss in general.

Deforestation-free

The core test a lot must pass: the commodities were produced on land that was not subject to deforestation after 31 December 2020 (and, for wood, harvested without inducing forest degradation after that date). It is a determination about a specific plot against a fixed date, which is why plot geolocation matters so much.

Forest

Given a precise, measurable definition: land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 metres and a canopy cover of more than 10% (or trees able to reach those thresholds in situ), excluding land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban use. Whether a piece of land counts as “forest” decides whether clearing it is deforestation.

Forest degradation

A separate concept from deforestation: structural changes to forest cover, for example, primary or naturally regenerating forests being turned into plantation forests or other wooded land. For coffee and cocoa the operative test is deforestation; degradation chiefly bites on wood. The distinction matters because generic satellite “tree-cover loss” is neither (it can be harvest, fire or pruning), which is exactly why a naive map over-flags.

Agricultural plantation / agroforestry

Land with tree stands in an agricultural production system, including, in the regulation’s own words, agroforestry systems where crops are grown under tree cover. Crucially, agricultural plantations are excluded from the definition of “forest.” This is the legal footing for shade-grown coffee and cocoa, and why a screen must not read agroforestry management as deforestation, the subject of our guide on false positives on shade-grown farms.

Cut-off date (31 December 2020)

The line the EUDR draws. Goods are only compliant if the land they came from was not deforested after 31 December 2020. Land converted from forest before that date can still qualify; conversion after it is what the regulation targets.

The people with duties

Operator

The party that first places a covered product on the EU market, or exports it: for a coffee or cocoa importer, the EU business bringing non-EU beans in. The operator must exercise due diligence and submit the Due Diligence Statement, and the legal responsibility rests with them.

Trader

A party in the supply chain, other than the operator, that makes a covered product available on the EU market. Traders that are not small or medium-sized carry duties of their own, but for many downstream businesses the practical task is to collect and pass on the DDS reference numbers they receive.

Authorised Representative

An EU-established party an operator may appoint, by written mandate, to submit the Due Diligence Statement on its behalf. The representative carries the operator’s identity in the filing, not its own. Appointing one does not move the legal liability. That stays with the operator.

Competent authority

The body each EU Member State designates to enforce the regulation within its territory. Competent authorities run the risk-based checks on operators, can demand to see due-diligence statements and the evidence behind them, and apply penalties where they find non-compliance.

The obligations

Placing on the market

The first making available of a covered commodity or product on the Union market. It is the moment the operator’s obligations crystallise: due diligence has to be done, and the DDS submitted, before a lot is placed on the market.

Due diligence

The process the regulation requires of every operator, in three steps: collect the required information on each lot (including plot geolocation), assess the risk that the lot is non-compliant, and mitigate that risk until it is negligible. Only then may the lot be placed on the market, under a DDS.

Risk assessment

The second step of due diligence: analysing the information gathered against a set of criteria in the regulation (the country’s risk classification, the presence of forests, the complexity of the supply chain, any concerns about legality, and more) to judge whether the risk of non-compliance is negligible. A certificate can feed this step as one input, but does not replace it.

Risk mitigation

The third step: where a risk assessment finds more than negligible risk, the operator must take measures (gathering more information, requiring further evidence, independent checks) to bring the risk down to negligible. If it cannot be brought down, the lot must not be placed on the market.

Negligible risk

The conclusion an operator can reach when, after assessing the information gathered, there is no cause for concern that the goods are non-compliant. Reaching negligible risk is what allows the operator to proceed; where risk is not negligible, it must be assessed and mitigated before a DDS is submitted. What the bar actually means, and how to document it, is covered in our guide on negligible risk and how to prove it.

Simplified due diligence

A lighter path available only for commodities produced in countries the Commission has classified as low risk: the operator is not required to carry out the risk-assessment and risk-mitigation steps, provided there is no cause for concern or risk of circumvention. It still requires collecting the information, including geolocation. It is not a general exemption, and it is not available for standard- or high-risk origins.

Country benchmarking (risk classification)

The system by which the Commission classifies countries (or parts of them) as low, standard or high risk of producing non-compliant goods. The classification sets how much scrutiny applies: standard risk is the default, high risk raises the mandatory check rate and rules out the simplified route, and low risk opens simplified due diligence.

The paperwork & the system

Due Diligence Statement (DDS)

The declaration an operator submits before placing a covered product on the market, confirming that due diligence was carried out and that the goods are deforestation-free and legally produced. It includes the commodity details and the geolocation of the plots of production, and is filed through the EUDR Information System in TRACES.

DDS reference number

The identifier the EUDR Information System issues when a Due Diligence Statement is submitted, paired with a verification number. Downstream buyers and enforcement authorities may request these numbers to confirm that a valid statement exists for the goods.

Geolocation / GeoJSON

The location of each plot of land where the commodity was produced, expressed as coordinates to at least six decimal places: a polygon, or a point with an area figure for plots of 4 hectares or less. GeoJSON is the standard file format used to carry that plot geometry into the DDS. The detail is in our guide on geolocation requirements.

TRACES / EUDR Information System

The European Commission’s platform through which Due Diligence Statements are filed for the EUDR; the EUDR-specific tool within it is the EUDR Information System. The operator, or its Authorised Representative, submits the DDS there, and it returns the reference and verification numbers.

EORI number

An Economic Operators Registration and Identification number: the EU-wide identifier customs uses for a business that imports or exports. An importer filing as an operator needs one, and it is carried in the operator’s TRACES profile and its Due Diligence Statements.

Want these terms in context? Start with the complete guide for small coffee and cocoa importers, or see the FAQ.