Rubber industry’s readiness for EUDR compliance

THE Rubber Development Department with the technical support of the Survey Department has launched a nationwide initiative to map all small-scale rubber plantations using geographic coordinates in order to comply with new European Union (EU) regulation on deforestation-free imports.

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Under the initiative, each rubber-growing plot will be digitally recorded, after which farmers will be issued QR codes free of charge. The codes will be required when selling rubber to exporters targeting EU markets.

The EUDR is a major legislative shift to reduce the EU’s contribution to global deforestation and forest degradation. The regulation was formally adopted on 31 May 2023, and entered into force on 29 June 2023. The application deadlines were postponed by one year, with current deadlines set for 30 December 2025, for larger and medium companies, and 30 June 2026, for SMEs. The regulation by the 27-member-state political and economic union requires companies trading in cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya and wood, as well as products derived from these commodities, to conduct extensive diligence on the value chain to ensure the goods do not result from recent (post-31 December 2020) deforestation, forest degradation or breaches of local environmental and social laws.