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Avoid treating non-negligible risk as a business preference or procurement score. The EUDR release condition is a legal due diligence conclusion: no or only negligible risk of non-compliance before the relevant product is placed on the market or exported.

Avoid filing or relying on a due diligence statement while the underlying evidence still says the risk is unresolved. The statement record should sit behind a traceable due diligence file, not substitute for one.

Avoid adding thresholds, grace periods, penalties, or country-score rules unless they are supported by the current source material. For this FAQ, the cited sources support the risk-assessment and mitigation gate, evidence and recordkeeping duties, downstream substantiated-concern handling, and low-risk simplification conditions; it does not support a universal numeric risk score.

Start with an Annex I product, then identify what the entity does with that product. The phrase placing on the market means first making an individual relevant product available on the EU market in a commercial activity. For a product made in the EU, the first person to supply it for distribution, consumption, or use on the EU market is normally the operator. For a product entering the EU, the person who places it under the customs procedure for release for free circulation is normally the operator. A person exporting a relevant product is an operator unless the downstream-operator definition applies.

Use the downstream-operator category only when the new relevant product is made using relevant products that are all already covered by a due diligence statement or simplified declaration. If any relevant input is not covered, the specific transaction does not meet that definition and needs an operator analysis. A person that only supplies an already-placed relevant product in the course of a commercial activity is a trader if it is not the operator or downstream operator.

For a product imported from outside the EU, the person acting as importer when it is released for free circulation is generally the operator. If that importer is not established in the EU, Article 7 also makes the first EU-established person to make the product available subject to operator obligations. A private consumer importing directly for personal use is not an operator, and customs warehousing, transit, temporary admission, and other procedures short of release for free circulation do not by themselves place a product on the market.

The Commission's July 2026 guidance confirms that one natural or legal person may hold several roles at the same time for different relevant products. The guidance is non-binding and does not replace the Regulation. Record the role at product and transaction level, including whether the product was produced in the EU, imported for free circulation, transformed into a new Annex I product, supplied onward, or exported.

An operator must exercise due diligence before placing or exporting the relevant product. Unless the separate Article 4a regime for a micro or small primary operator applies, the operator must submit a due diligence statement through the EUDR information system before the transaction. Submission is allowed only after due diligence shows no or only a negligible risk that the product does not comply with Article 3. The operator remains responsible for compliance even when an authorised representative submits the statement.

Downstream operators and traders do not submit a new due diligence statement or have a general duty to redo the upstream operator's due diligence. Article 5 instead requires them to hold specified supply-chain information before placing, making available, or exporting. This includes the supplier's identity and, only when that supplier is an operator, the associated due diligence statement reference numbers or declaration identifiers. They must also record the downstream operators or traders to whom they supply the product.

Size changes some Article 5 duties, not the role definition. A non-SME downstream operator or non-SME trader must register in the information system before the covered transaction. All downstream operators and traders, including SMEs, must collect and retain the Article 5(3) information and assist competent-authority checks.

Yes, subject to the Article 5 information and new-risk rules. A downstream operator or trader does not submit another statement if it holds the information required by Article 5(3). It still has to retain that information for five years from its own placing, making available, or export and provide it to the competent authority on request.

If a downstream operator or trader learns that a product it has already placed or made available may not comply, Article 5(5) requires immediate notice to the relevant Member State authorities and to downstream operators and traders it supplied. For exports, the adopted text says that the downstream operator informs the competent authority of the Member State that is the country of production; because that wording may be difficult to apply where production occurred outside the EU, confirm the reporting destination with the competent authority rather than guessing.

Before a transaction, non-SME downstream operators and non-SME traders have an additional rule. If they receive relevant information indicating non-compliance, they must immediately inform the authorities in the Member States where they intend to place or make the product available or from which they intend to export it. If there is a substantiated concern, they must verify that due diligence was exercised and that no or only a negligible risk was found; they cannot proceed until that verification reaches that result.

Keep enough evidence to reproduce the role decision for each product flow. For an operator, retain all due diligence documentation for at least five years and keep each due diligence statement record for five years from submission. Communicate the associated statement reference numbers or declaration identifiers to downstream operators and traders further down the supply chain.

A downstream operator or trader must keep the Article 5(3) information for at least five years from its own placing, making available, or export. Keep required supplier and business-recipient identities, operator statement references or declaration identifiers, and the date and product flow to which each record belongs. Also retain notices, authority correspondence, and any non-SME verification record needed to show how new risk information was handled.

Article 13 changes two steps in the operator's due diligence process. The operator may omit Article 10 risk assessment and Article 11 risk mitigation only after assessing supply-chain complexity, circumvention risk, and the risk of mixing with products of unknown origin or origin in standard- or high-risk countries or parts. The operator must ascertain that all relevant commodities and products were produced in a low-risk country or part.

The controlling country list is Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1093, as updated if the Commission later revises it. Sweden is a low-risk country on the current list; the United States and China are also listed low risk. Belarus, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Myanmar, and the Russian Federation are high risk. Unlisted countries, including Brazil, Indonesia, and Malaysia, remain standard risk. A low-risk classification concerns the Article 3(a) deforestation-free condition and does not itself prove legality under Article 3(b) or satisfy product-level traceability.

Article 13 simplified due diligence and the Article 4a regime for a micro or small primary operator serve different purposes. Article 13 determines whether Articles 10 and 11 can be omitted. Article 4a generally requires a micro or small primary operator to submit a one-time simplified declaration; where all Annex III information is available in another system or database under Union or Member State law, the Member State instead makes that information available in the Article 33 system. An operator using Article 13 still submits a due diligence statement unless it separately qualifies for Article 4a.

Article 13 does not supersede Article 9. The operator still collects and keeps the relevant product description, quantity, country of production, production date or time range, supplier and customer details, and the required geolocation of all plots of land or cattle establishments. It also needs adequately conclusive and verifiable information showing that the product is deforestation-free and was produced in accordance with the relevant legislation of the country of production.

Before placing or exporting, the operator must also satisfy Article 4. Unless it separately qualifies as a micro or small primary operator under Article 4a, it submits a due diligence statement through the Article 33 information system. Submitting the statement does not shift responsibility to a supplier, authorised representative, or authority.

Downstream operators and traders do not use Article 13 to replace their Article 5 duties. They must hold the specified supplier and business-recipient information before their transaction, including statement reference numbers or declaration identifiers when their supplier is an operator, and retain it for at least five years.

Simplified due diligence is unavailable if any relevant commodity or product in the assessed chain was not produced in a low-risk country or part, the operator cannot establish production there, or the documented risk of circumvention or mixing is more than negligible. A low-risk supplier address, warehouse, port, processing country, or invoicing country cannot cure missing production evidence.

Article 13 also has a live reversion trigger. If relevant information, including a substantiated concern, points to non-compliance or circumvention, the operator must perform Articles 10 and 11 and immediately communicate the information to the competent authority.

When Article 13 is unavailable, use the ordinary route: collect Article 9 information, perform the Article 10 risk assessment, and, if the risk is not negligible, adopt adequate and proportionate Article 11 mitigation. The operator cannot place or export until the assessment shows no or only a negligible risk.

Recheck Article 13 whenever the Commission updates the country list or the product's origin, supplier chain, processing route, or mixing controls change. The record should identify the version of the implementing act used and connect each relevant input to the low-risk production area.

Keep the complete due diligence documentation for at least five years. That file should contain Article 9 information, the Article 13 complexity and circumvention or mixing assessment, supporting segregation and traceability evidence, the statement record or applicable declaration identifier, and any later review. The operator must be able to provide the Article 13 documentation to the competent authority on request.

Start with 30 December 2026. That is the application date for the listed EUDR articles unless Article 38(3) applies. The later date is an operator rule: the actor must be an operator that is a natural person or was established as a micro- or small undertaking by 31 December 2024. Medium undertakings are outside this exception.

Next check the product. Article 38(3) expressly excludes products covered by the Annex to Regulation (EU) No 995/2010, the former EU Timber Regulation. A qualifying micro or small operator handling one of those timber products cannot use 30 June 2027 for that product. Separate transition rules in Article 37 also apply to certain timber and timber products produced before 29 June 2023.

Finally check the role for the transaction. A micro or small business acting only as a trader or downstream operator is not brought within Article 38(3) by its size. If the same legal entity is an operator for another relevant product, assess the later date separately for that operator flow.

For entity size, Directive 2013/34/EU uses three measures at the balance-sheet date and a two-of-three test. A micro undertaking does not exceed EUR 450,000 balance-sheet total, EUR 900,000 net turnover, and 10 employees for at least two measures. Small uses EUR 5 million, EUR 10 million, and 50 employees; medium uses EUR 25 million, EUR 50 million, and 250 employees. Article 38(3) covers micro and small operators, not medium operators. Confirm the historical accounting classification and applicable national implementation rather than applying today's headcount alone.

An operator must have its compliance route ready by the date that applies to its product and status. The ordinary route requires Article 9 information, Article 10 risk assessment, Article 11 mitigation when needed, and a due diligence statement before placing or exporting. The separate Article 4a route applies only to a micro or small primary operator that meets its low-risk-country and own-production conditions; it generally requires a one-time simplified declaration before placing or exporting. Where all Annex III information is available in another system or database under Union or Member State law, the Member State instead makes that information available in the Article 33 system.

A downstream operator or trader must collect the Article 5(3) supplier and business-recipient information before placing, making available, or exporting. If the direct supplier is an operator, the record also includes the associated due diligence statement reference numbers or declaration identifiers. A non-SME downstream operator or non-SME trader must register in the Article 33 information system before the transaction.

Test Article 38(3) and Article 4a separately. Article 38(3) asks whether an operator was a qualifying natural person or micro- or small undertaking by 31 December 2024 and whether the product is outside the former EUTR Annex. Article 4a asks whether a micro or small primary operator is established in a low-risk country and places or exports products it produced itself there.

The timing file should let another reviewer reproduce the date decision. Record the legal entity, its role for the product, the Annex I code, whether the product appears in the former EUTR Annex, the size classification source, the date the entity attained that status, and the resulting application date.

For a 30 June 2027 conclusion, retain financial-statement or equivalent evidence showing the operator was a natural person or established as a micro- or small undertaking by 31 December 2024. Apply the Directive 2013/34/EU definitions incorporated by the EUDR and document any accounting or national-law judgment used; a current headcount or an informal "SME" label does not establish the historical condition.

Keep obligation evidence separately. Operators retain the due diligence file and statement records. Downstream operators and traders retain Article 5 information. A micro or small primary operator also retains the Article 4a eligibility facts and simplified declaration identifier.

The common mistake is to give every SME the 30 June 2027 date. Article 38(3) is narrower: it applies to qualifying operators, not medium undertakings and not a business merely because it is a micro or small downstream operator or trader. It also excludes products covered by the former EUTR Annex.

The later date does not establish eligibility for the simplified declaration. A business can satisfy one test and fail the other because Article 38(3) and Article 4a use different conditions. Record both conclusions instead of using one as proof of the other.

Build the supplier evidence file around the product movement that will be placed on the EU market, made available, or exported. The record should identify who supplied the relevant product or commodity, what product or quantity the evidence supports, where the commodity was produced, and which due diligence statement reference number or simplified declaration identifier applies when one has been provided.

A supplier declaration is useful only if it can be reconciled with the commercial record and the origin evidence. Treat missing supplier identity, missing production origin, unsupported geolocation, unexplained mixing, or a reference number that cannot be tied to the product as unresolved EUDR risk rather than as a completed evidence file.

The supplier can provide records, but the operator owns the Article 9 verification, Article 10 conclusion, mitigation decision, and due diligence statement. An authorised representative can submit a statement; neither the supplier nor representative takes over Article 3 responsibility.

Article 9 information collection should let the operator demonstrate that the relevant product complies with the EUDR market-access conditions: deforestation-free, produced in accordance with relevant legislation in the country of production, and covered by the required statement or declaration. The supplier file has to connect commercial product data to origin data and supporting documents.

For each relevant product, collect the description and relevant commodity inputs, quantity, country and where relevant part of production, production date or time range, geolocation of every plot or cattle establishment, supplier and business-recipient identities, and adequately conclusive and verifiable information for deforestation-free and legal production.

Legal-production evidence depends on the laws applicable in the country of production. The EUDR categories include land-use rights, environmental protection, forest rules tied to wood harvesting, third-party rights, labour rights, protected human rights, free prior and informed consent, and tax, anti-corruption, trade, and customs rules. Identify the applicable rule and document rather than collecting a generic legality certificate.