Vietnamese agriproducts need to proactively adapt UK's new deforestation rules

The Great Britain policy is deliberately designed to avoid duplicating EUDR compliance infrastructure.

The information was shared at an online workshop on the United Kingdom’s Forest Risk Commodities Regulation held on September 11 and led by Tom Alpe, Trade Policy Adviser at the International Forestry Unit of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

According to a UK Government announcement on June 23, EUDR will be fully applied in Northern Ireland from December 30, 2026. Meanwhile, Great Britain will introduce a separate mandatory due diligence regime with a strong focus on ensuring compatibility with the EUDR.

Key differences from the EUDR

One major difference between the UK’s proposed policy and the EUDR lies in the criteria for determining deforestation. At the initial stage, the UK will not set a specific cut-off date to determine whether a commodity is “deforestation-free,” as under the EUDR. Instead, the policy will focus on determining the legality of land-use conversion. This means that if a change in land use has been authorized by the competent authorities in the producing country and complies with local laws, the commodity will not be considered non-compliant.

Under this approach, commodities will not be considered non-compliant if the land-use conversion has been authorized by the competent authorities in the producing country and complies with local laws.

The UK also has no plans at this stage to introduce a country-level risk classification system similar to that under the EUDR. At the same time, the proposed policy will not introduce additional customs controls or new border checks on commodities entering the UK, nor will businesses be required to submit a due diligence statement at the point of import.

To adapt to both the EUDR and the UK’s proposed regime, experts at the workshop recommended that Viet Nam continue strengthening its data systems and improve connectivity among regulators, businesses, and producers.

Focus on seven commodity groups

According to Tom Alpe, the Great Britain regime will apply to seven main commodity groups similar to those covered by the EUDR: cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soy, cattle and timber, as well as related processed products.

Notably, the UK does not want to create an entirely new compliance system for businesses operating in both the UK and EU markets. At the initial stage, the UK regime will primarily focus on requiring businesses to demonstrate legal compliance and manage data on production areas.

Accordingly, businesses covered by the regime will be required to establish a due diligence system for tracing the origin of commodities and submit annual reports. Businesses with annual revenues of £1 million or less are expected to fall outside the scope of the regime, while micro-enterprises will not be covered.

For businesses further down the supply chain, meaning those that use commodities after they have been imported by another business, the UK is expected to apply requirements proportionate to each business’s role and level of risk.

An opportunity for Viet Nam to help shape the policy

The UK is an important market for many of Viet Nam’s agricultural and forestry products. According to information shared at the workshop, the value of Vietnamese coffee exports to the UK is equivalent to around 10% of Viet Nam’s total coffee export value. The UK market also accounts for a significant share of Viet Nam’s total timber and wood product export turnover.

As a result, changes to the UK’s traceability and due diligence requirements could have a direct impact on Vietnamese businesses in the relevant commodity sectors.

The UK Government is expected to launch a public consultation on the new regime this autumn. Tom Alpe said the UK welcomes participation from Viet Nam, businesses and research organizations in the consultation process. The consultation is expected to focus on the scope of commodities covered, due diligence requirements, traceability and geolocation data requirements, as well as data interoperability.

FCDO representative emphasized that the UK is particularly interested in understanding how Vietnam’s existing management and traceability systems are currently operated by government agencies and businesses, with a view to ensuring that information can be effectively transmitted throughout the entire supply chain.

Kieu Chi