The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) categorises every country into one of three risk categories: low, standard, or high, allowing importers to tailor their compliance efforts to the actual threat of deforestation. Understanding where your suppliers sit on that scale is now the starting point for any credible due diligence programme.
Your products are subject to varying levels of scrutiny based on this classification. For standard and high-risk countries, you face full due diligence obligations, though high-risk sources receive more intensive checks.
If you source from low-risk countries, you can perform simplified due diligence - you must collect information, but don't need to assess and mitigate risks. This is the most confusing part, as companies need to assess supply chain risk but do not necessarily need to conduct a risk assessment and mitigation. So, what is needed? We explain it below.
Keep in mind that the benchmarking system isn't permanent. A first review is scheduled for 2026. This ensures that risk classifications remain relevant as global forest conditions evolve.
Understanding the EUDR’s risk categories is your first step toward effective compliance.
How EUDR benchmarking works
On 22 May 2025, the European Commission officially categorised countries under the EUDR benchmarking system. This marks a crucial step in implementing the regulation's risk-based approach to fighting deforestation.
- Just four countries received high-risk designation: Belarus, Myanmar, North Korea, and Russia. Countries under UN Security Council or EU Council sanctions for EUDR-relevant commodities automatically fall into the high-risk category.
- At the opposite end, 140 countries earned low-risk status, including all EU Member States, the UK, the US, Canada, China, Japan, Australia and South Africa. For the full list, see below.
- About 50 other countries received the standard-risk category, notably major commodity producers such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brazil. Also listed below.
While all countries initially received standard-risk status when the EUDR came into effect, the Commission will periodically review classifications.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation's 2020 Global Forest Resources Assessment, expected to be released in October 2025, provides the primary data for these evaluations, with the first review scheduled for 2026.
This approach incentivises countries to improve forestry practices and sustainability standards, potentially earning better risk ratings in future assessments.
What the EUDR risk categories mean for you
For businesses, these classifications create distinct compliance paths.
Standard and high-risk countries
For standard and high-risk countries, full due diligence obligations apply, with national competent authorities conducting more stringent checks. This includes:
- Information collection (Article 9 of the EUDR)
- Risk assessment, including addressing data quality, legality, and deforestation issues (Article 10)
- Risk mitigation (Article 11)
Low-risk countries
For low-risk countries, your due diligence should:
- Collect information and obtain adequate, conclusive, and verifiable information that confirms the relevant products are deforestation-free. This also includes ensuring that these products have been produced in compliance with the pertinent legislation of the country of production. Additionally, this encompasses any arrangements that confer the right to use the respective area for the purpose of producing the relevant commodity.
- Assess supply chain complexity. Although no risk assessment and mitigation are required, it is crucial to validate all farm plots for data quality and compliance if the product you are placing on the EU market comes from these origins.
- Submit a Due Diligence Statement
How to organise simplified due diligence
Supply from low-risk classified origin countries still requires structure, just less paperwork. A practical approach:
- Build a low-risk supplier register. Capture commodity, HS code, geolocation polygons or geopoints, and supply-chain tier.
- Automate TRACES NT filing. Pre-populate statements with verified coordinates to avoid fat-finger errors.
- Run quarterly desk reviews. Check for sanctions, media allegations, filed substantiated concerns or abrupt land-use change around your farm polygons.
- Document your logic. Keep a short audit note explaining why you relied on simplified due diligence for each lot.
That four-step routine provides a clean audit trail without the burden of a full risk assessment.
Compliance monitoring and enforcement
The classification also determines how frequently National Competent Authorities (NCA) check operators:
- 1% for low-risk countries
- 3% for standard-risk countries
- 9% for high-risk countries
If an NCA suspects non-compliance, it will further investigate. In the event of non-compliance, it may incur fines of up to 4% of EU turnover. It can also lead to temporary bans from public contracts or funding. Additionally, authorities may confiscate goods. The EU Commission also publishes court-confirmed violations online, including the name of the company and the specifics of the infringement, which creates significant reputational risks.
Suspicion of non-compliance can also be raised by relevant stakeholders, such as NGOs, who can file a substantiated concern, to which the NCA must respond.
Full list of countries and their risk levels
High-risk countries
- Belarus
- Myanmar
- North Korea
- Russia
Standard-risk countries
- Angola
- Argentina
- Belize
- Benin
- Bolivia (Plurinational State of)
- Botswana
- Brazil
- Burkina Faso
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- Chad
- Colombia
- Côte d’Ivoire
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Gambia
- Guatemala
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Indonesia
- Israel
- Liberia
- Malawi
- Malaysia
- Mauritania
- Mexico
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Nicaragua
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Pakistan
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Senegal
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- Sudan
- Uganda
- Tanzania (United Republic of)
- Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
Low-risk countries
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Algeria
- Andorra
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Armenia
- Australia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Bahamas
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Barbados
- Belgium
- Bhutan
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Brunei Darussalam
- Bulgaria
- Burundi
- Cabo Verde
- Canada
- Central African Republic
- Chile
- China
- Comoros
- Congo
- Costa Rica
- Croatia
- Cuba
- Cyprus
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Djibouti
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Egypt
- Estonia
- Eswatini
- Fiji
- Finland
- France
- Gabon
- Georgia
- Germany
- Ghana
- Greece
- Grenada
- Guyana
- Hungary
- Iceland
- India
- Iran (Islamic Republic of)
- Iraq
- Ireland
- Italy
- Jamaica
- Japan
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kenya
- Kiribati
- Kuwait
- Kyrgyzstan
- Lao People’s Democratic Republic
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Lesotho
- Libya
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Madagascar
- Maldives
- Mali
- Malta
- Marshall Islands
- Mauritius
- Micronesia (Federated States of)
- Monaco
- Mongolia
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- Nauru
- Nepal
- Netherlands (Kingdom of the)
- New Zealand
- North Macedonia
- Norway
- Oman
- Palau
- Palestine
- Papua New Guinea
- Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal
- Qatar
- Republic of Korea
- Republic of Moldova
- Romania
- Rwanda
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Samoa
- San Marino
- São Tomé and Príncipe
- Saudi Arabia
- Serbia
- Seychelles
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Solomon Islands
- South Africa
- South Sudan
- Spain
- Sri Lanka
- Suriname
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Syrian Arab Republic
- Tajikistan
- Thailand
- Timor-Leste
- Togo
- Tonga
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Tunisia
- Türkiye
- Turkmenistan
- Tuvalu
- Ukraine
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- United States of America
- Uruguay
- Uzbekistan
- Vanuatu
- Viet Nam
- Yemen
