The problem: orders bound for the EU in 2027 are being screened today
A coffee exporter in the Central Highlands receives an email from its German importer: starting with shipments delivered in late 2026, they require GPS coordinates for every coffee garden, copies of land-use right certificates for each farming household in the chain, and a commitment that the consignment is not linked to deforestation after 31 December 2020. The importer is not being difficult — the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is entering its application phase, and the importer must “screen” its Vietnamese suppliers before daring to sign its own due diligence statement.
The point Vietnamese businesses often misunderstand: the EUDR imposes no tax and no import ban — it sets conditions for placing products on the EU market. Fail the conditions and the goods do not clear customs; and the EU importer — who bears direct legal liability — will simply switch to a supplier with complete documentation. Markets are not lost to prohibition; they are lost to unprepared paperwork.
The EUDR legal framework: points verified as of 19 October 2026
The parent instrument: Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 on deforestation-free products (EUDR) — adopted by the European Parliament and the Council on 31 May 2023, in force since 29 June 2023. Scope: seven commodity groups — cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya, wood — plus the derived products listed in Annex I of the Regulation.
Three conditions for placing products on (or exporting from) the EU market: (1) deforestation-free — i.e. not produced on land subject to deforestation or forest degradation after 31 December 2020 (a fixed cut-off date, not moving); (2) produced in accordance with the relevant legislation of the country of production; (3) covered by a due diligence statement submitted in the EU Information System.
Application timeline — updated after the second postponement: Regulation (EU) 2025/2650 (adopted December 2025) revised the application calendar. As verified on 19 October 2026: 30 December 2026 — applies to medium and large operators and traders, and to micro and small enterprises in the wood sector (already covered by the former EU Timber Regulation); 30 June 2027 — applies to micro and small enterprises in the remaining sectors; 30 December 2027 — applies to newly added in-scope products. Note: the old calendar dates of 30 December 2025 and 30 June 2026 no longer apply — businesses still planning against the old dates will be caught off guard.
Supply-chain due diligence has three steps: information collection (Article 9 EUDR: product description, country of production, geolocation of every plot of land used for production), risk assessment, and risk mitigation before filing the statement. This is why EU importers “chase” all the way down to Vietnamese farm plots: without coordinates and documents from the origin, they cannot complete step one.
Country risk classification (Article 29 EUDR — country benchmarking): the European Commission classifies each producing country as low, standard or high risk; the classification determines how often Member State authorities check consignments (a 1%–3%–9% framework). The EU continues to update this classification — businesses should track it to know the inspection intensity for shipments from Vietnam, but even low-risk origins must still collect full geolocation and information; the risk classification does not waive due diligence duties.
How EU buyers screen Vietnamese suppliers
From the perspective of the EU importer — who signs the due diligence statement and faces penalties for a false one — supplier screening typically covers five items:
1. Geolocation of every production plot. For areas above 4 hectares, the EU requires a polygon enclosing the plot; below 4 hectares, a single GPS point suffices. Coordinates are cross-checked against satellite imagery against the 31 December 2020 deforestation cut-off. Farmers without a positioning smartphone? The cooperative or the collecting trader must go to the garden and measure for them — there is no alternative.
2. Evidence of “no deforestation” after the 31 December 2020 cut-off. Historical satellite imagery is the main tool; if the plot was forest after the cut-off date, the consignment is excluded — no exceptions for “replanted” land or “titled” land.
3. Legality under Vietnamese law. Land-use right certificates (or lawful land lease contracts), harvesting/exploitation licences for wood and rubber, tax documents, labour compliance — the EUDR defines “legality” broadly, covering land-use rights and labour law.
4. Traceability back to the farm. Each export consignment must be traceable to the plots it was harvested from. The model of “collecting floating volumes and mixing sources of unknown origin” — still common in smallholder coffee and rubber — is a dead model under the EUDR. Businesses must segregate compliant flows or at least record every source within a mixed lot.
5. Documented risk assessment and mitigation. Importers must keep the full due diligence file; when EU authorities inspect, they will ask back up the chain to the Vietnamese supplier. Anyone without records will have nothing to prove in a dispute.
A notable point from the late-2025 simplification package: micro and small enterprises at the start of the chain file a one-time declaration instead of full per-consignment due diligence; downstream links in the chain only need to retain the reference number of the statement instead of filing duplicates. The burden concentrates on the “first operator placing the product on the EU market” — who will in turn push data demands down onto Vietnamese suppliers.
Product scope just clarified: the 13 July 2026 Delegated Act
On 13 July 2026, the European Commission adopted a delegated act updating Annex I of the EUDR after stakeholder consultation. Points Vietnamese businesses need to know:
Removed from scope: raw hides, skins and leather of cattle; re-treaded tyres; soya beans for sowing; articles of vulcanised rubber; conveyor and transmission belts; aircraft and motor vehicle seats. For footwear and leather-goods businesses using bovine leather — this is good news, but check your specific HS code.
Added to scope (applying from 30 December 2027): soluble coffee, certain palm oil derivatives, frozen bovine tongues. Instant-coffee exporters to the EU — a fast-growing segment in Vietnam — should note this separate date.
Outside scope: samples for analysis and testing; waste, used and second-hand products; packing material; raw materials for manufacturing medicinal products.
The important message: the list of derived products remains subject to further EU clarification. Businesses should not “lock in” on a heard-about list, but check their own product’s HS code directly against the updated Annex I and follow further Commission guidance.
What Vietnamese farms and businesses should do now: seven items
1. Collect GPS coordinates for every plot — starting this harvest season. This is the most time-consuming task and cannot be rushed at the last minute. Cooperatives and collecting agents should list households, measure each garden, and record the holder’s name and area.
2. Standardise each household’s legal documents. Land-use right certificates or lease contracts; for plantation wood: forest product origin dossiers; for rubber: allocation or lease contracts. Households missing documents should fix that now — waiting until late 2026 is too late.
3. Build a consignment-to-plot traceability system. Every export lot must point to the plots it was harvested from. Invest in simple traceability software or at least consistent lot coding; the model of mixing untraceable volumes must be phased out.
4. Keep records for at least five years. The EUDR requires due diligence records to be retained; Vietnamese businesses should apply an equivalent standard to their origin records so they can respond when a buyer or an EU authority asks.
5. Renegotiate contracts with EU importers. Spell out who collects coordinates and documents, who files the due diligence statement, who pays for independent verification, and compensation terms if a consignment is held by EU authorities for EUDR reasons. Do not wait until goods are stopped to argue about it.
6. Sustainability certification is a plus, not an exemption. Certifications such as FSC (wood), RSPO (palm oil) or sustainable coffee standards help with the risk assessment step, but they do not replace the due diligence statement, geolocation data and legality evidence. “Certified means EUDR-done” is a dangerous misunderstanding.
7. Closely track the country risk classification and new EU guidance. Vietnam’s risk classification directly affects how often consignments are inspected; product-scope clarifications and the Information System rules are still being finalised by the EU. Assign one person in the business to follow this file instead of leaving it to the buyer.
Frequently asked questions
When does the EUDR apply to Vietnamese businesses?
The EUDR is EU law, so the direct legal duty falls on the operator placing goods on the EU market: from 30 December 2026 (medium and large enterprises, plus micro and small wood-sector enterprises) and from 30 June 2027 (micro and small enterprises in other sectors) under Regulation (EU) 2025/2650. Vietnamese businesses feel the impact indirectly but immediately: EU buyers have already started screening suppliers in 2026 to file their statements on time — anyone without coordinates and documents will be dropped from the chain before the law ever “touches” them.
Do smallholder farmers have to file statements in the EU system themselves?
No. The duty to file the due diligence statement belongs to the operator (usually the EU importer). Vietnamese farms and businesses supply the input data: plot coordinates, legal documents, traceability information. That said, under the simplification package, micro and small enterprises at the start of the chain (including non-EU ones in some trade structures) may only need a one-time declaration — check your specific role in each contract.
With FSC/RSPO certification, is anything more needed for the EUDR?
Yes — the full work remains. Sustainability certifications are recognised by the EU only as supporting factors in the risk assessment and mitigation step; they do not replace the three core duties: proving no deforestation after 31 December 2020 with geolocation, proving legality, and the due diligence statement in the EU system. Treating certification as “EUDR-done” is a dangerous misreading.
Is a coffee garden planted before 2020 safe?
The 31 December 2020 cut-off means “no deforestation after that date”, not “the land must predate it”. A garden planted before 2020 with no deforestation or forest degradation after the cut-off meets the first condition — but the business must still supply coordinates for satellite cross-checking, prove the land’s legality, and have a due diligence statement. “Planted long ago” does not waive documentation duties.
Are samples sent to the EU for buyer solicitation within EUDR scope?
Under the Commission’s clarification (delegated act of 13 July 2026), samples for analysis and testing fall outside EUDR scope. But the boundary must be understood precisely: commercial goods — however small the volume, however “trial” the shipment — remain in scope if the product’s HS code is in Annex I. Do not confuse a “small lot” with a “test sample”.
This article is pending QA review by the FLAW AI Legal Council
