Many steps required

On 23 June 2023, the European Union enacted the EU Deforestation Prevention Regulation (EUDR) to prevent deforestation-related products from entering the European market.

Accordingly, from December 30, 2025, the EUDR regulation will take effect for large operators and traders; from June 30, 2026, for micro and small enterprises.

When implementing the EUDR regulation, many agricultural products such as timber, coffee, cocoa, palm oil, soybeans, beef and rubber from Vietnam must prove that they are not related to deforestation after December 31, 2020.

At the same time, goods must have a clear origin and comply with local laws. If violated, the product will be banned from import into Europe and businesses may be subject to heavy fines.

According to Mr. Truong Tat Do, Department of Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, to comply with EUDR, businesses need to take specific steps according to instructions from Forests Forward of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

First, businesses need to understand the regulations, including the prohibition on importing products and goods related to illegal logging or trade. Businesses review their entire supply chain to ensure that all inputs are legally sourced and do not contribute to deforestation.

Verifying and tracing the origin of products plays an important role. Therefore, businesses are required to build a system to store documents proving the legal origin of products. Businesses must ensure that raw material suppliers have legal certification, through international standards or certification from reputable organizations.

In addition, raising awareness and responsibility for compliance with EUDR regulations within the enterprise is also very necessary. This is the way for enterprises to understand, apply and implement EUDR well.

Finally, businesses need to establish mechanisms to monitor and report regularly on their compliance with EUDR regulations; and update processes to respond to changes in EUDR regulations.

These steps not only help businesses achieve EUDR certification and avoid legal violations, but also contribute to environmental protection and sustainable development.

Challenges to overcome

Mr. Pham Tuan Anh, Director of Dak Nong Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that export enterprises only have about 12 months left to comply with the requirements of the EUDR regulation.

However, currently, the implementation of EUDR regulations for Dak Nong enterprises still faces many difficulties, obstacles and is very worrying.

According to Mr. Bui Duc Hao, Coordinator of the Landscape and Coffee Program in the Central Highlands (Initiative for Sustainable Trade - IDH), the requirements of the EUDR regulation are a big challenge for many producers and exporters.

This is because the data needed at the household level, data on deforestation, structures and tools often change over time.

Building an open data source and the process of tracing land origin requires businesses to spend a large amount of money. With data from thousands of gardens, it will be very difficult for Dak Nong businesses to verify the origin.

Of which, 75% of coffee gardens in Dak Nong currently do not have location data according to EUDR standards. Building a traceability database in a short time is very urgent.

According to businesses, collecting data from gardens requires very high costs. Therefore, units need to share and build data systems to help reduce the burden on businesses in registering for EUDR certification.

Currently, the cost of exporting many products to Europe has increased due to the arising procedures of origin tracing and technology investment. This is one of the major challenges for small and medium enterprises.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung, Director of Sustainable Agriculture Development - Simexco Dak Lak, shared: "Currently, export companies are very worried. Just tracing the origin has put businesses at great risk."

According to Mr. Bach Thanh Tuan, representative of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (VICOFA), the association has proposed that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development develop an action framework based on research results and make the process transparent. Otherwise, businesses will face many problems in accessing EUDR certification.

“Currently, the application of science and technology and the construction of an open database are essential. Because determining EUDR in the field is already costly, the circulation and appraisal reports make Vietnamese enterprises more costly, affecting the maintenance of production and business activities,” said Mr. Tuan.