On 23 June 2026, during London Climate Action Week, Defra confirmed the direction the UK will take on deforestation in supply chains. Great Britain will consult later this year on a mandatory due diligence regime, drawing on powers under the Environment Act 2021 and strengthening the existing UK Timber Regulation, while the EU Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR) will apply in Northern Ireland in phases from 30 December 2026. The announcement resolves a question that has sat open for some time, namely whether the UK would build a regime of its own design or move towards the EU approach. The answer is now alignment, on scope and on the information businesses will need to hold. In this article, we explore what was announced, how the two parts of the UK will be treated, and what the direction of travel means for companies already preparing for the EUDR.
What the UK Govt. has announced
The confirmation came through a Written Ministerial Statement and an accompanying gov.uk publication, “The UK’s approach to deforestation regulations”. The substance sits in two parts.
For Great Britain, the government intends to consult on regulations requiring businesses with an annual turnover above £1 million, that use forest risk commodities and wood products in their commercial activity, to carry out due diligence. The aim is to confirm that those commodities have been produced in compliance with relevant local laws. Businesses in scope would need to establish a due diligence system, report on their activity, and hold proof of compliance, including geolocation data showing where the commodities were produced. The legal foundation already exists in Schedule 17 of the Environment Act 2021, which provides the framework for a forest risk commodity regime, alongside a strengthened UK Timber Regulation.
For Northern Ireland, the position follows from the Windsor Framework. To maintain Northern Ireland’s dual access to the UK Internal Market and the EU Single Market, the EUDR will apply there directly from 30 December 2026. Large and medium operators come into scope on that date. Micro and small operators come into scope on 30 December 2026 for wood products currently regulated under the EU Timber Regulation, and from 30 June 2027 for all other relevant products.
The shift towards alignment
The detail that matters most is consistency. The government has been clear that the GB regime is intended to cover the same core commodities and the same underlying information requirements as the regulation applying in Northern Ireland. The stated reasons are practical: to protect the UK Internal Market, to prevent duplication for businesses trading across both, and to help GB exporters to the EU meet consistent data and traceability standards.
This is a notable change of position. Defra had previously indicated that it would not seek to align the UK forest risk commodity regime with the EUDR, which left businesses facing the prospect of two regimes with different scopes and different evidence requirements. The announcement moves in the opposite direction. For companies that supply both markets, the case for a single due diligence system, built once and applied across the UK and the EU, is now considerably stronger than it was.
There is one distinction worth holding clearly. The GB regime, as proposed, is built on a legality test, confirming that commodities were produced in line with relevant local laws. The EUDR sets a higher bar, requiring that products are deforestation-free, meaning the relevant commodities were not produced on land deforested after 31 December 2020. The government has stated that it intends to move towards a deforestation-free standard in Great Britain in due course. So the alignment, for now, is on scope and information requirements rather than on the standard itself, with the standard expected to converge later. Companies designing their systems would do well to build for the higher bar from the outset, since the data needed to demonstrate legality and the data needed to demonstrate deforestation-free status overlap substantially, and the second is where the regime is heading.
What this means in practice
For most businesses with cross-border supply chains, the practical position has become clearer rather than more complex. Preparation for EUDR was already necessary for any company placing forest risk commodities on the EU market or exporting from it.
The commodities at the centre of deforestation due diligence regimes are: cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya and wood, together with a range of derived products. Alignment with EUDR would mean companies would begin with mapping the supply chain to the point of production, collecting geolocation data for the relevant plots, assessing the risk that the commodity is linked to deforestation or to illegality, and holding evidence that the checks were carried out. None of this is quick to assemble where supplier relationships are long and the data sits several tiers up the chain.
A few points deserve early attention. The GB turnover threshold of £1 million is its own test, separate from the EUDR’s definitions of micro, small and medium operators, so a company may find itself in scope in one market on one basis and in another on a different one. Movements of certain commodities between Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland raise questions that the published material does not yet fully resolve, and cattle and beef have already been flagged by trade bodies as an area needing detailed guidance. The GB consultation has not yet opened, so the precise scope, timing and reporting format remain to be confirmed. This makes this a useful window to shape the system rather than a reason to wait, and we are advising clients to engage with relevant trade organisations to ensure their voice contributes to the consultation.
How Jordisk can help
We’ve been working with companies inside and outside the EU as they prepare for EUDR. Our experience tells us that EUDR is an incredibly challenging regulation to prepare for as it typically requires significant data from suppliers to meet obligations. Data which is often difficult to come by and to verify. It is critically important that companies start their preparations as early as possible to engage supply chain partners and to establish the processes and systems required to manage compliance effectively.
Jordisk works with businesses across all sectors helping them to prepare for deforestation due diligence. We carry out an impact assessment to establish which commodities and which entities fall in scope across jurisdictions, and where the legal obligations actually sit given how your business places products on each market. From there we help design the due diligence system itself, the supplier data collection process, the risk assessment methodology, and the evidence trail, and we support the operational integration that makes this part of how the business runs rather than a constant scramble.
For companies preparing for the EUDR application date in December and watching the GB consultation, we can help you build a single approach aligned with EUDR so the same system serves both markets as they converge. Our impact assessment is the ideal place to start. It delivers a clear definition of which of your products are in scope, where legal obligations apply, and where there are gaps in your existing data, systems and processes to meet obligations. We pride ourselves in offering pragmatic, operational support to companies based on our experience of working with over 100 clients to prepare for EUDR. For companies based in Northern Ireland, we offer a rapid assessment to help you accelerate towards EUDR compliance.
Contact us today to talk about how we can help your company with EUDR.
