AHFA Announces EUDR Webinars

AHFA member companies shipping wood products into the European Union or sourcing any wood products from the European Union will want to reserve time for two important webinars diving into the complexities of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).

Countdown to Compliance: Understanding Your Requirements Under EUDR
Wednesday, November 20 at 2:00 p.m. ET

A Compliance Tool for Deforestation Monitoring
Friday, December 13 at 2:00 p.m. ET

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that halting deforestation and restoring ecosystems is one of the most efficient ways to reduce CO2 levels and thus fight climate change. In response, the executive body of the European Union, the European Commission, created a broad plan of action to tackle deforestation and forest degradation. That plan is outlined in the 2019 Commission Communicationon Stepping up EU Action to Protect and Restore the World's Forests. At the heart of this plan is the Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products, otherwise known as the EUDR. It went into force June 29, 2023, and its rules become effective December 30, 2024. Companies have 18 months from that date to comply, although there is a proposed extension that would add a year to the timeline.

The regulation applies to wood, rubber, palm oil, soy, beef, coffee and cacao. Wood products, which are most connected to harvesting, have additional "degradation-free" requirements. Implications of the regulation are global. Companies placing or exporting any affected products must conduct due diligence to confirm that the products have not been sourced from land anywhere in the world that was deforested or degraded after December 31, 2020.

The November 20 webinar will be presented by Travis Snapp, founder/president of Benchmark International. In "Countdown to Compliance: Understanding Your Requirements Under EUDR," Snapp will explain the regulation, including exemptions and specific provisions for "small enterprises."

The December 11 webinar will be presented by Jacob Nedergaard, co-founder/CEO of Qarma, a provider of quality control and compliance software. His session will focus on "A Compliance Tool for Deforestation Monitoring." He will introduce members to a compliance platform that allows easy collaboration with suppliers to collect geolocation data, to complete the required due diligence statement and to seamlessly plot needed product data for EUDR compliance as well as other European and U.S. regulations.

Both webinars, which will be approximately 45 minutes long with time at the end for questions, are free and exclusively for AHFA members. Each webinar will be recorded and available on the education pageof AHFA's website, which requires valid login credentials in order to access.