Holmen welcomes the EU Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR) and can guarantee that our products do not contribute to deforestation or forest degradation. Below, we answer the most commonly asked questions from our customers.
The EUDR aims to prevent trade in goods that contribute to deforestation and forest degradation around the world and is an initiative within the EU's Forest Strategy 2030. Holmen fully supports the initiative and works actively to ensure compliance with the requirements of the EUDR.
Initially, the EUDR was supposed to take effect on 30 December 2024, but it was later postponed until 30 December 2025.
In September 2025, a request was submitted for a twelve-month postponement due to concerns regarding the IT platform. However, shortly thereafter, the European Commission presented a legislative proposal maintaining the implementation date of 30 December 2025 for large and medium-sized operators and traders. These companies will, however, be granted a six-month transitional period for inspections and supervision.
At the end of November, the Council and Parliament presented their proposals suggesting that the rules will apply from 30 December 2026 for medium-sized and large operators, and from 30 June 2027 for micro and small enterprises.
Holmen continues to actively work to ensure compliance with the requirements of the EUDR, with the target date of 30 December 2025, despite ongoing uncertainties from the EU regarding the implementation timeline.
The amendment must be formally adopted by the European Union before it can enter into force. This information will be updated once their decision is known.
Here we answer some frequently asked questions:
Holmen Wood Products’ due diligence system will partly involve collecting the relevant information, data and documents, and partly involve risk assessment and risk-reducing measures. We will be able to provide more information about the details of our system later on.
Based on what we know at the moment, we are building our processes and traceability systems around a report-in-excess model.
We will be able to provide more information about the details of our traceability model later on.
We will not provide GPS coordinates directly to our customers. Instead, we will provide reference and verification numbers so that our customers can search for and refer to the due diligence statements (DDS) containing this information, which we will have uploaded to the EU’s information system. According to the forest industry’s interpretation of the EUDR, which is supported by FAQ 3.4 (version 4), downstream operators are exempt from the information requirement in Article 9, including collection and provision of geolocation coordinates and harvesting date, provided that they have ascertained that their supplier has demonstrated due diligence.
We will make reference and verification numbers available to our customers on the delivery note.
We will need to make some internal adjustments to fulfil the criteria of the EUDR. However, we do not expect these changes to be significant or to have any noticeable impact on our customers.
Holmen has long practiced sustainable forestry methods and maintains well-established traceability processes, providing a solid foundation for EUDR compliance.
We are now working actively to implement the EUDR to ensure compliance with this new regulation. This includes developing IT solutions to handle traceability and exchanging information with the EU information system.
We want to refine these processes to ensure robust traceability and to achieve compliance with relevant parts of the EUDR in the most seamless way possible – both for Holmen and Holmen's business relationships.
The aim is for all products that contain wood (and a number of other raw materials) to be traceable back to the place of production, which for forest is the area where the wood was harvested.
The Swedish Forest Industries Federation supports the overarching objective of the EUDR, which is to prevent deforestation and forest degradation linked to specific raw materials and products.
The Swedish Forest Industries Federation’s quick guide could help!
The Swedish Forest Agency is the competent Swedish authority that will check compliance with the provisions of the EUDR. The EUDR replaces the EUTR (the Timber Regulation).
Emma Persson
Marketing controller
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