EUDR Certification Schemes: A Practical Guide

The EUDR sets due diligence requirements that can be hard for businesses to meet. However, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and other organisations operate certification schemes offering traceability that can help operators and traders meet the EUDR requirements without establishing their own monitoring systems from the ground up.

In this guide, we take a closer look at EUDR-related solutions provided by the FSC, PEFC, RSPO,  and 4C Services.

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) provides solutions to protect forests and guard against challenges such as deforestation. They can provide you with certification services that you can use to demonstrate compliance with the EUDR. According to their website, they cover timber products such as wood products, pulp and paper products.

The FSC offers EUDR services for operators and traders who need to comply with traceability, risk assessment, and other due diligence requirements set by the EUDR. Specifically, it provides the following services:

1. The FSC Aligned Certification for EUDR, which:

• Uses the FSC’s Regulatory Module to “translate” complex obligations into clearer and more practical requirements
• Utilises the FSC Risk Assessment Framework to help companies assess and avoid risks when sourcing forest material
• Ensures independent verification through audits by accredited bodies

2. The FSC Risk Hub, an interactive dashboard that companies can use to:

• Streamline the EUDR reporting requirements
• Access information regarding the risk assessment of a given sourcing country, as well as risks and strategies to mitigate those risks, which is useful for performing due diligence
• Store and maintains risk assessments

3.The FSC Trace platform, which companies holding FSC Certificates can use to:

• Ensure they source from EUDR-compliant suppliers
• Ensure product verification and traceability across the supply chain

To sum it up, companies can use the FSC Aligned Certification, the FSC Risk Hub, and the FSC Trace platform to comply with some of the key EUDR due diligence requirements.

Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC)

The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) encourages sustainable forest management. They aid companies in complying with the EUDR and other related requirements for timber products such as paper, furniture, and rubber. They offer the following services:

1. The PEFC EUDR Due Diligence System (DDS), which companies can use to:

• Translate EUDR requirements into practical steps using the Chain of Custody framework
• Demonstrate their compliance with the EUDR
• Prepare for an external audit by your certification body to assess your compliance with the EUDR DDS module requirements, using a 10-step guide

2. Technology partnerships, which companies can use to:

• Adhere to regulatory geolocation obligations
• Comply with risk analysis requirements
• Ensure conformity to supply chain monitoring obligations

In short, PFEC can help you to exercise due diligence (e.g. collecting the geolocation of the production of relevant products) and, more in general, comply with some of the most important EUDR requirements.

Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) promotes sustainable palm oil production. They help companies comply with the EUDR and other related requirements by providing the following services:

1. RSPO Certification, which RSPO members can use to:

• Demonstrate that their EUDR compliance exceeds the “legal minimum” requirements
• Verify sustainable practices by suppliers

2. Prisma, which is a platform that companies can use to:

• Record supply chain data, including the geolocation of palm oil plantations
• Track the movement of certified palm oil from the plantations to the consumers
• Demonstrate compliance by providing the data needed for EUDR risk assessments

3. Risk assessments and compliance support, which companies can use to:

• Assure against a “non-negligible” risk of product noncompliance with the EUDR
• Understand and thus meet EUDR obligations

According to the RSPO website, you can use the organisation’s services and certification to comply with key EUDR requirements such as risk assessment and due diligence.

4C Services

4C is an internationally recognised sustainability standard that covers coffee and cocoa. 4C Services, the company behind it, can help you to meet the EUDR requirements by providing services, such as:

1. Integration of certification and standards, which:

• Aligns the 4C Code of Conduct with EUDR requirements
• Streamlines EUDR compliance into the existing 4C certification cycle
• Verifies compliance through independent third‑party audits

2. Providing geolocation, traceability and risk assessment services, which companies can use to:

• Validate precise geolocation data
• Ensure full product traceability from farm to final buyer
• Utilise the 4C portal to check for deforestation risks

3. The 4C Portal, which companies can utilise to:

• Create their due diligence statements per the EUDR requirements
• Access production time ranges and supply chain data
• Provide authorised supply chain partners with compliance information

You can use the 4C certification services to streamline EUDR requirements, perform due diligence, and create due diligence statements for your coffee and cocoa products
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FAQ

What are the benefits of using an established certification scheme?

The EUDR requires that operators and traders obtain information that enables traceability to reduce the risk of deforestation. This includes, for example, geolocation and other information that can be hard for an importer or retailer to obtain.

Further, managing due diligence in-house and being able to determine if the data obtained is valid can be a challenge for many businesses.

However, organisations like the FSC have established systems for monitoring and tracing materials in the supply chain. As such, it is simply more practical to choose products and materials that are already compliant with an EUDR-aligned certification scheme, as this can significantly reduce the burden of doing extensive due diligence.

Are FSC-certified products compliant with the EUDR?

According to the FSC website, their certification does not exempt you from complying with your EUDR obligations. That said, you can voluntarily use certification schemes from the FSC and other organisations to support your due diligence obligations.

However, always keep in mind that the EUDR requirements may go beyond the scope of the relevant certification scheme.