---
title: "Who files an EUDR due diligence statement, and what goes in it?"
description: "Who must file an EUDR due diligence statement from 30 December 2026, what Article 9 requires, the information system, and what changed for traders in 2025."
canonical: "https://gencompl.ai/deep-dives/eudr-due-diligence-statement"
language: "en-US"
type: "Deep dive"
published: "2026-10-14T18:41:31.714Z"
modified: "2026-10-14T18:53:52.601Z"
---

# Who files an EUDR due diligence statement, and what goes in it?

The operator that first places covered products on the EU market or exports them, from 30 December 2026; micro and small firms from 30 June 2027, except for timber already under the old Timber Regulation. The statement carries the geolocation of every plot of production. Since the December 2025 amendment, downstream operators and traders no longer file one.

**Under the EU Deforestation Regulation, who must submit a due diligence statement, what must it contain, and from when?**

[Home](https://gencompl.ai/) › [Deep dives](https://gencompl.ai/deep-dives) › Who files an EUDR due diligence statement, and what goes in it?

## Who files an EUDR due diligence statement, and what goes in it?

The operator files it: the company that first places cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya or wood products on the EU market, or exports them. Large and medium-sized operators must have one for every product from 30 December 2026. Micro and small operators follow on 30 June 2027, unless the product is timber that already fell under the old EU Timber Regulation, which keeps the December 2026 date.

The statement confirms that the operator exercised due diligence and found no or only a negligible risk that the product is linked to deforestation after 31 December 2020 or to illegal production. Behind it sits the information in Article 9 of [Regulation (EU) 2023/1115](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32023R1115), led by the geolocation of every plot where the commodity was grown. Since [Regulation (EU) 2025/2650](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32025R2650) took effect on 26 December 2025, downstream operators and traders no longer file a statement of their own.

## At a glance

- **Regulation**: [Regulation (EU) 2023/1115](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32023R1115) (EUDR), as amended by [Regulation (EU) 2025/2650](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32025R2650)
- **Applies from**: 30 December 2026 for large and medium-sized operators and traders (Art. 38(2))
- **Micro and small**: 30 June 2027, if established as such by 31 December 2024; EU Timber Regulation products stay on 30 December 2026 (Art. 38(3))
- **Cut-off date**: No deforestation after 31 December 2020 (Art. 2(13))
- **Filed in**: The EUDR information system, which returns a reference number
- **Country risk**: [Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1093](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32025R1093): high, standard or low
- **Checks in the Netherlands**: NVWA on businesses, Douane on customs declarations
- **Maximum fine**: At least 4% of total annual EU turnover (Art. 25(2))

## Who files what

The December 2025 amendment split the supply chain into roles with different duties. The role depends on what you do with the product, not on the size of your company.

| Role | Due diligence statement? | What you do instead | Article |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Operator: first places the product on the EU market or exports it | Yes, before placing or exporting | Due diligence, risk assessment and mitigation, then the statement | 4(2) |
| Micro or small primary operator | No | A one-time simplified declaration, which returns a declaration identifier | 4a(2) |
| Downstream operator: places products made from covered products | No | If not an SME: register in the information system and keep supplier and customer details and reference numbers for five years | 5(2) to 5(4) |
| Trader: makes covered products available on the EU market | No | Same as a downstream operator | 5(2) to 5(4) |

> **Our analysis: The amendment moved the work upstream**
>
> The record-keeping duty for downstream companies is passive.
>
> The Commission's review report says the duty to collect reference numbers applies only when the direct supplier is itself an operator, and a downstream company may presume its supplier is not one if no numbers arrive. A Dutch chocolate maker buying cocoa from an importer in Rotterdam keeps the importer's reference numbers. If it buys the same cocoa from another Dutch processor, there may be nothing to keep.

## What the statement rests on

Article 9 sets the information an operator collects before it can file. Every item has to be adequately conclusive and verifiable.

| Item | Requirement | Article |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Product | Trade name, HS code, and quantity in net mass or supplementary units | 9(1)(a) and (b) |
| Country of production | Country, and where relevant parts of it | 9(1)(c) |
| Geolocation | Every plot of land where the commodity was produced; for cattle, every establishment where the animals were kept | 9(1)(d) |
| Precision | At least six decimal digits; polygons for plots of more than four hectares, except cattle | 2(28) |
| Time | Date or time range of production | 9(1)(d) |
| Supply chain | Every business or person that supplied you, and the downstream operators and traders you supplied | 9(1)(e) and (f) |
| Deforestation-free | Adequately conclusive and verifiable information that the product is deforestation-free | 9(1)(g) |
| Legality | The same standard of proof for production under the law of the country of production | 9(1)(h) |

## Why the geolocation is where it goes wrong

The information system accepts a statement only with coordinates for every plot. For a commodity grown by thousands of smallholders and mixed in a cooperative's warehouse, that means collecting polygons and points at farm level, before the shipment is sold.

Mixing is itself a risk factor.

Article 10(2)(j) lists "mixing with relevant products of unknown origin" among the criteria in the risk assessment, so a lot that is mostly traceable is not traceable. If the assessment finds a risk that is not negligible, Article 11 requires mitigation until it is, and Article 4(4)(b) bars placing the product on the market before then.

## Three rules that change the workload

*Art. 13*

### Low-risk countries

Products that come entirely from low-risk countries get simplified due diligence: no risk assessment or mitigation under Articles 10 and 11. The Article 9 information, geolocation included, is still required.

*Implementing Reg. 2025/1093*

### Who is low risk

All EU Member States and about 140 other countries are low risk. Belarus, North Korea, Myanmar and Russia are high risk. Every country not listed, including Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Côte d'Ivoire and Colombia, is standard risk.

*Art. 4(7)*

### Pass the numbers on

Operators must communicate the reference numbers of their statements, or their declaration identifiers, to the downstream operators and traders they supply.

## The dates

One chronology in date order. Each label gives the date as the source states it and who set it.

### 2020

- **31 December 2020 · Set by law**: Cut-off date: no deforestation after this day (Art. 2(13))

### 2025

- **22 May 2025 · Set by the European Commission**: Country benchmarking adopted (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1093)
- **19 December 2025 · Set by law**: Regulation (EU) 2025/2650 adopted: second delay and simplification; in force 26 December 2025

### 2026

- **4 May 2026 · Set by the European Commission**: Simplification review published (COM(2026) 191): no further amendment of the basic text
- **13 July 2026 · Set by the European Commission**: Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2102 adopted: scope changes to the product annex
- **30 December 2026 · Set by law**: EUDR applies to large and medium-sized operators and traders, and to EU Timber Regulation products of micro and small operators

### 2027

- **30 June 2027 · Set by law**: EUDR applies to micro and small operators
- **30 December 2027 · Set by the European Commission**: Products added by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2102 become subject, including soluble coffee

## Where you file, and who checks in the Netherlands

Statements and simplified declarations go into the EUDR information system, which the Commission runs within TRACES. The system registers each statement with a reference number (Article 33(2)), and the Commission's TRACES FAQ adds a verification number for security. Statements bundled under a grouped declaration cannot be withdrawn or amended one by one while that declaration is active. In the Netherlands the minister is the competent authority under the Dutch implementing act (Stb. 2024, 242). Government guidance for businesses says the NVWA can check you and the Douane checks goods and statements, with importers passing the reference numbers to customs. The NVWA can impose an order subject to a penalty, and fines run through the Omgevingswet. An Eerste Kamer committee note records that adapting the Dutch implementing law to the 2025 amendment will take about one to one and a half years.

## What enforcement and the review showed

[Article 16 of the EUDR](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32023R1115) sets the minimum share authorities must check every year: at least 9% of the quantity of each product from high-risk countries, 3% of operators for standard risk and 1% for low risk. Since the 2025 amendment those rates cover non-SME downstream operators and traders too, and checks may come without warning.

Penalties under [Article 25(2) of the EUDR](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32023R1115) include a maximum fine of at least 4% of total annual EU turnover, confiscation of products and revenues, and exclusion from public procurement for up to 12 months.

The Commission's [simplification review](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52026DC0191) of 4 May 2026 estimates that the 2025 changes cut the cost of compliance by about 75%, from EUR 8.1 billion to EUR 2.0 billion a year. It concluded that further amendment of the basic text is not appropriate.

Scope changes came instead through Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2102, which removes cattle hides, skins and leather and retreaded tyres, and adds products such as soluble coffee from 30 December 2027.

> **What we could not establish**
>
> We could not read Annex II, the formal content of the statement, verbatim on EUR-Lex, or the consolidated text of September 2026. The 2025 amendment deletes point 4 of Annex II, which we infer is the reference to an existing statement. We found no amended country benchmarking list for 2026, no Official Journal date for Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2102, no ministerial decree formally naming the NVWA, and no confirmation that the Dutch implementing act has entered into force.

## What can GenCompl.ai do for you?

We read the EUDR as rules, so whether your company is an operator, a downstream operator or a trader, and which date applies, is derived from a description of what you buy, make and sell, with the article behind each line.

- [Book a working session](https://gencompl.ai/contact)

## Questions and answers

### We buy cocoa from an importer in Rotterdam and make chocolate. Do we file a statement?

No. You are a downstream operator. If you are not an SME, you register in the information system and keep your supplier's reference numbers and your customer details for five years.

### Our soya comes only from the United States, which is low risk. What do we skip?

The risk assessment and mitigation under Articles 10 and 11, provided every product in the shipment comes from low-risk countries. You still collect the Article 9 information, including the geolocation of every plot.

### Is leather still in scope?

The Commission's Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2102, adopted on 13 July 2026, removes cattle hides, skins and leather. We have not confirmed its publication in the Official Journal, so check that before you stop collecting data.

### What does the micro and small operator date require?

The company must have been established as a micro or small undertaking by 31 December 2024 to use 30 June 2027. Timber products already covered by the EU Timber Regulation stay on 30 December 2026.

## Sources

- [Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 on deforestation-free products (EUDR)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32023R1115) (EUR-Lex · 31 May 2023)
- [Regulation (EU) 2025/2650 amending Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 as regards certain obligations of operators and traders](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32025R2650) (EUR-Lex · 19 December 2025)
- [Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1093: country benchmarking](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32025R1093) (EUR-Lex · 22 May 2025)
- [Report on the simplification review of the EUDR, COM(2026) 191 final](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52026DC0191) (European Commission · 4 May 2026)
- [Regulation on deforestation-free products](https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/forests/deforestation/regulation-deforestation-free-products_en) (European Commission)
- [EUDR information system: operator FAQ](https://acceptance.eudr.webcloud.ec.europa.eu/tracesnt/help/eudr-documentation/operator/faq.html) (European Commission)
- [Verordening ontbossingsvrije producten (EUDR): wat betekent dit voor u?](https://ondernemersplein.overheid.nl/duurzaam-ondernemen/milieu/verordening-ontbossingsvrije-producten-eudr-wat-betekent-dit-voor-u/) (Ondernemersplein)
- [Ontbossingsvrije producten](https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/themas/klimaat-milieu-en-natuur/natuur-en-biodiversiteit/ontbossingsvrije-producten) (Rijksoverheid)
- [Wet uitvoering verordening ontbossingsvrije grondstoffen en producten, Kamerstuk 36518](https://www.eerstekamer.nl/wetsvoorstel/36518_wet_uitvoering_verordening/meta?df2=all2) (Eerste Kamer)
- [Memorie van toelichting, Kamerstuk 36518, nr. 3](https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/kst-36518-3.pdf) (Tweede Kamer)
- [Commissievergadering LNV, 24 februari 2026](https://www.eerstekamer.nl/eu/commissievergadering/20260224_lnv) (Eerste Kamer · 24 February 2026)