Canadian forestry association urges EU to ease EUDR rules
The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) has called on Canada and the EU to simplify requirements under the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), ahead of Prime Minister Mark Carney's visit to the European Parliament. FPAC says the regulation in its current form risks imposing tens of millions of dollars of unnecessary costs on Canadian producers and forest product supply chains, and is seeking recognition of Canada as a negligible-risk country with streamlined traceability requirements.
Why this mattersIf the EU grants low-risk exporters like Canada simplified EUDR compliance, it could reset the cost and traceability burden for forest-product exporters globally.
- FPAC issued its statement on 16 September 2026, ahead of Prime Minister Mark Carney's address to the European Parliament.
- FPAC estimates EUDR in its current form risks imposing tens of millions of dollars of unnecessary costs on Canadian producers and supply chains.
- FPAC is asking the EU to recognise negligible-risk countries and streamline geolocation and traceability requirements.
- The EUDR is scheduled to take effect later in 2026.
- FPAC cites concerns over plot-level traceability, large data uploads and treatment of forest residuals as impractical for exporters such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
- Derek Nighbor, President and CEO of FPAC, said Canada's forest sector supports the EU's deforestation goals but wants an evidence-based implementation approach.
- The EU imported USD 115.89m of Canadian wood chips, sawdust, pellets and fuelwood (HS 4401) in 2025, its largest Canadian wood import category, per UN Comtrade.
- Canadian sawn wood exports to the EU totalled USD 107.02m and paper and paperboard USD 174.43m in 2025.
- A joint statement in May from forestry groups in Canada, the US, Australia, Japan and New Zealand asked Brussels to set EUDR geolocation at country rather than plot level.
- A single container can require tens of thousands of geolocation data points, according to the five signatory forestry groups.