# EUDR compliance checklist: what auditors will verify during December 2026 enforcement What EU competent authorities will check under the EUDR from 30 December 2026: geolocation, chain of custody, Article 10 risk assessment and legality. Author: Anna Kuppel Published: 2026-08-10 Source: https://www.coolset.com/academy/what-eudr-dry-runs-revealed-what-competent-authorities-will-actually-check-in-december-2026 ##### Key takeaways The Council of the EU adopted the targeted revision of the EUDR on 18 December 2025. The amended text was published in the Official Journal on 23 December 2025 and entered into force on 26 December 2025. Large operators placing cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soya, wood and derived products on the EU market face binding application from 30 December 2026. The Commission's simplification review of 4 May 2026 (COM(2026) 191 final) cites a European Forest Institute dry-run exercise for the coffee sector as evidence of how the due diligence process operates against real supply chains. Most operators have been preparing for the filing, not for the audit. Reproducing plot-level coordinates, reconstructing custody from a customs entry back to a farm block, and evidencing the Article 10 risk assessment are separate technical tasks, and each one sits on the enforcement agenda from 30 December 2026. ## What the Commission's 2026 review confirms about implementation The Commission's simplification review points to three concrete implementation anchors. It cites the EFI dry-run exercise for coffee as evidence of how the DDS process operates in practice, identifies expansion of agricultural land as the main driver of deforestation the checks are designed to catch, and confirms that the Global Forest Cover map for 2020 at 10 meter resolution meets the EUDR forest definition and supports risk assessments. Chapter 3 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 then sets out the enforcement framework. Article 14 designates competent authorities, Article 16 makes checks mandatory, Article 18 governs checks on operators and non-SME traders, and Article 24 covers corrective action. The consolidated text requires operators to offer all necessary assistance to inspectors, including access to premises and records. It also confirms that downstream operators and traders are considered checked when authorities have verified the Article 19(1) elements. Under Article 31 of the Regulation, competent authorities must also carry out checks whenever they obtain relevant information, including substantiated concerns submitted by third parties. That obligation runs in parallel to the planned inspection sample. Supplier management is where those external triggers usually surface first, because smallholder aggregation and consolidated shipments are where plot-to-shipment links break down. ## Geolocation and plot data: the first file inspectors open Geolocation is the primary evidence base for a deforestation-free claim, and it is the first data an inspector can verify independently. Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 requires operators to collect the geographic coordinates of all plots of land where the relevant commodities were produced, and to submit polygons where the area exceeds a defined threshold. Points are only acceptable for smaller plots (<4ha). The technical baseline for verification is public. The Commission's simplification review confirms that the Global Forest Cover map for 2020 at 10 meter resolution matches the EUDR forest definition and supports risk assessments. Authorities can drop submitted coordinates onto that layer to test the 31 December 2020 cut-off date defined in Article 3(a). For a sustainability team, this means plot files need three properties before submission. Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 sets polygons above the small-plot threshold, coordinates on which the commodity can be produced, and consistent plot identifiers across orders. Teams which are still assembling this data can save time by setting up their polygons and origins properly. ## Traceability: reconstructing the chain from shipment to plot Chain-of-custody reconstruction is the second inspection axis, and it is where processed-goods operators are most exposed. Under Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1115, operators must communicate to downstream operators and traders the reference numbers of the DDSs associated with the products placed on the market. That reference chain only holds if the underlying records link back to the plots listed. Referencing an upstream operator's DDS does not transfer due diligence responsibility. The consolidated Regulation requires each operator to offer competent authorities access to records, including the data behind referenced DDSs. The downstream operator remains accountable for the substance of the claim. The operational consequence is that traceability documentation must be readily available. Article 18 of the consolidated Regulation requires operators to give inspectors all necessary assistance, including access to premises and records during audits or checks. Understanding when a new DDS is required for products, even when re-importing is essential to ensuring that all bases are covered. ## Article 10 risk assessment: what inspectors expect in the file Article 10 of the EUDR requires analysis, not just data collection. The regulation requires operators to assess the risk of non-compliance for each relevant product. The assessment must cover country risk classification, presence of indigenous peoples, corruption indicators, supply chain complexity and the prevalence of deforestation in the sourcing region. A generic country-level narrative does not meet that standard. Where risk is not negligible, Article 11 requires mitigation measures adequate to reach a negligible-risk conclusion. Those measures must be documented and, on inspection, evidenced. Third-party audits, supplier surveys and satellite monitoring outputs can serve as evidence, but only where the operator can show the data was reviewed and acted on. For sourcing teams, the risk-assessment file should be built at plot and supplier level rather than at country level. The Commission's implementation pages confirm the 2026 Guidance Document was co-developed with Member State representatives to support national enforcement bodies. Country benchmark updates will change which flows qualify for the simplified due diligence route, but they do not change the plot-level evidence standard. ## Legality evidence beyond deforestation Legality is a separate evidence stream, and authorities check it with the same rigor as the deforestation-free status. Article 2(40) of Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 defines what counts as relevant legislation of the country of production. The definition covers seven areas: land use rights, environmental protection, third parties' rights, labor rights, human rights protected under international law, free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), and tax, anti-corruption, trade and customs rules. A shipment can be blocked under Article 4(1) if any one area is not evidenced. Supplier self-declarations are not sufficient. Article 9(1)(h) requires adequately conclusive and verifiable information that the product was produced in accordance with the relevant legislation, including any arrangement conferring the right to use the area. Inspectors can ask for specific national law references and copies of permits, concession titles or customary rights documentation. Coolset's guide to Article 9(1)(h) legality evidence walks through the documentary standard at supplier level. Gaps in the legality section of an EUDR-commodity product can sink an otherwise compliant file. A shipment can pass every deforestation check but still be non-compliant because the underlying land tenure or labor documentation is missing. That risk is highest in flows from countries with contested tenure or documented indigenous land claims, where FPIC evidence is a distinct requirement. ## Penalties, corrective action and market-access consequences The enforcement consequences run through Chapter 3 of the regulation and can extend past fines. Article 17 lets authorities require immediate action on products presenting a risk. Article 20 allows recovery of the costs of checks from non-compliant operators. Article 24 gives competent authorities the power to order corrective action, which can include withdrawal from the market, recall or destruction. Article 22 requires Member States to report annually on the checks carried out, which will produce the first public dataset on enforcement patterns. The check obligation is also externally triggerable. Under Article 31 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1115, third parties can submit substantiated concerns and competent authorities must then open a check. That obligation runs alongside the planned inspection sample. Micro and small primary operators face a lighter regime. The consolidated text confirms they are exempt from Article 4(2), 4(3) second sentence and 4(4)(c) obligations, and submit a one-time simplified declaration in the Information System before placing products on the market. Large and medium operators do not benefit from that carve-out. Their application date remains 30 December 2026, and micro and small operators face 30 June 2027. ## Closing the gap before December 2026 The DDS is just the surface of the file, not the entire compliance evidence itself.  Focus the remaining months on making the highest-volume plot data reproducible outside your own data collection system, and on rebuilding the Article 10 risk assessment at plot and supplier level rather than at country level. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is the EUDR postponed to 2026? Yes. Regulation (EU) 2025/2650, published in December 2025, postponed application of the EUDR to the end of 2026. Large operators must comply from 30 December 2026 and natural persons and micro or small enterprises from 30 June 2027. The core obligations of Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 are unchanged. ### What is the current status of the EUDR? The amended Regulation entered into force on 26 December 2025 after Council adoption on 18 December 2025. Application starts 30 December 2026 for large and medium operators. The Commission's 2026 Guidance Document is available to support national competent authorities. ### What is the EUDR April 2026 review? The revision required the Commission to publish a simplification review by 30 April 2026. The report was published on 4 May 2026 as COM(2026) 191 final and draws on the EFI coffee-sector dry-run exercise to describe practical implementation of the DDS process. ### What is the grace period for the EUDR? There is no formal grace period after 30 December 2026 for large operators. The postponement built into Regulation (EU) 2025/2650 is the transition window. Once application starts, competent authorities must carry out checks under Article 16 and act on substantiated concerns from third parties under Article 31. ### Which products were removed from EUDR scope in the 2025 revision? Certain printed products, including books, newspapers and printed pictures, were removed from scope due to limited deforestation risk, according to the Council press release of 18 December 2025. Cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soya, wood and their Annex I derived products remain in scope.