EUDR: Tires Europe urges major revision of EC proposals

Prague – Implementation of the EU’s deforestation-free product regulation (EUDR) is facing further delay amid concerns over new ‘simplification’ measures introduced by the European Commission (EC), according to Adam McCarthy, secretary general, Tyres Europe.

Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Austria are among the countries calling for a ‘stop-the-clock’ mechanism to postpone the rollout of the regulation to December 2026, McCarthy said at the Future Tire Conference 2025.

“We are a year late already; the regulation was supposed to be implemented at the end of 2024 but late last year, the Commission came forward with a 12-month delay,” he set out in a keynote speech at the conference, held 18-19 Nov in Prague.

While the tire industry was “upstream ready” – having met all requirements to guarantee a deforestation-free value-chain – the EC needed “to provide further guidance [about the EUDR] and ensure its IT system could handle the data.”

As that did not happen, the Commission "proposed potential further delays and new measures," said McCarthy. "In the end, what they have proposed is a mess, I think.”

The new measures propose a delay – a six-month grace period – for some actors in the industry, particularly small and medium sized enterprises.

An over-arching issue, said the Tyres Europe leader, is that the EUDR terminology still remains ambiguous from one country to another and can cause further confusion.

More importantly, the Commission is proposing a simplification process for the due diligence statement (DDS) for the natural rubber placed on the market because "their IT system is not fit-for-purpose”.

Instead of passing the DDS down the value-chain, under the EC proposal, players have to share the numbers, which is creating “a huge logistical problem, with no clear benefit” McCarthy explained.

“Retransmission of DSS numbers downstream is administratively heavy and creates no extra enforcement value." he said.

In response, the European tire industry has urged the Commission to stop the implementation of EUDR at the ‘first-placers-on-the-market’ point.

"As 100% of natural rubber for use in tires is imported, once the point-of-entry is controlled the full EU market is controlled,” said McCarthy.

Furthermore, McCarthy called on EU lawmakers to lock in existing simplifications covered by FAQs (explanatory notes) in the EUDR documentation.

Simplification “already recognised in the FAQs must be codified in the legislation” – not left open to interpretation.

Without legal anchoring, these simplifications are fragile, unevenly applied and legally contestable,” he stated.

Concluded McCarthy: “We are having a live discussion at the European Parliament and also among EU member states. A delay in the EUDR implementation "seems to be inevitable given the timetable.”