Intergraf, the European association representing the printing industry, has urged the European Commission to delay implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), warning that the current timeline leaves insufficient time for analysis and adaptation.
The association welcomed the Commission’s recent efforts to simplify the regulation by introducing the ‘downstream operator’ category with reduced due diligence requirements. However, it said the proposed changes remain substantial and would significantly affect operators across the value chain. With the current compliance deadline set for 30 December 2025, Intergraf argues that stakeholders, policymakers and Member States need more time to evaluate and discuss the implications.
The group highlighted the disproportionate burden on small businesses, which make up 95% of Europe’s 100,000 printing companies and typically employ fewer than 20 people. Each printed book could be linked to as many as 300,000 forest plots, generating vast quantities of due diligence reference numbers and declaration identifiers that must be processed and transmitted. Intergraf said such requirements are “not feasible” and would not deliver measurable environmental benefits.
Instead, it proposes replacing the obligation to transmit reference numbers with an aggregated traceability approach based on record-keeping of suppliers and customers, including operator details and EORI numbers for imports and exports.
Intergraf also warned that staggered compliance dates—giving small and micro-enterprises a year’s grace beyond the 2025 deadline—will be ineffective, since smaller companies are closely integrated into larger supply chains and would still need to comply immediately.
The organisation is calling for a “stop-the-clock” mechanism to allow for a full reassessment of the regulation’s impact, to identify genuine simplification measures and make the EUDR workable, while maintaining its environmental objective of preventing deforestation.
