The Hardwood Federation produces a “D.C. Cheat Sheet” newsletter to keep the industry up-to-date on the latest news from Washington D.C. Check out the October 23rd edition below and sign up to receive your copy.
Anticipated EUDR Delay Falls Through: On Tuesday, October 21st, the European Commission published its proposal to amend the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Most significantly, although a one-year delay had been anticipated by many, the European Union (EU) is in fact not proposing a general delay to the EUDR, and the application date would remain December 30th, 2025.
Two specific adjustments have been made to the proposed timeline:
- “Micro and small” EU operators would have until December 30, 2026, to comply. This concession would apply only to EU operators with net turnover of up to EUR 8 million and average 50 employees. It would not apply to medium or large sized operators above these thresholds. (This definition applies to the EU importer, NOT the exporter.)
- EU Member States would only begin checks on operators and applying enforcement measures after June 30, 2026. In the interim, regulators may issue warnings to operators, accompanied by recommendations to achieve compliance, where they “become or are made aware of non-compliance,” but sanctions will not apply.
This proposal still needs to be approved by both the European Parliament and the European Council before it can enter into force. American Hardwood Export Council Environmental Policy Director, Rupert Oliver, has summarized the proposal in detail here.
Hardwood Federation Activates X to Share Our Trade Story: After a few quiet years, the Hardwood Federation is reactivating our presence on X (formerly Twitter) to raise awareness about the trade and tariff related challenges currently facing our industry. Our partners at Monument Advocacy are posting regularly to highlight the benefits U.S. hardwood companies bring to rural America and the U.S. manufacturing economy and how current policies threaten the viability of our sector. You can find us at @TheHardwoodFed.
Your support and engagement can make a big difference. When you see our posts, please like, repost, and comment from your company accounts (and personal ones if you are comfortable). You can also tag @TheHardwoodFed in your own posts about the industry so we can engage and amplify your messages.
Fix Our Forests Approved by Senate Panel: On Tuesday, the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee held a markup to consider a number of bills, including the Fix Our Forests Act—S. 1462. The legislation was approved by the panel on an 18-5 vote.
The bill would facilitate increased management of our federal forest landholdings by expediting permitting of projects and providing additional policy tools to the Forest Service to conduct this critical work. Similar legislation (H.R. 471), led by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR), passed the House in January. The Hardwood Federation was monitoring the hearing as it was anticipated that an amendment would be offered to revise the definition of “renewable biomass” under the Renewable Fuels Standard. The existing definition, enacted in 2007, largely disqualifies forest-based biomass as the statute only allows merchantable trees derived from tree plantations or logging residues and pre-commercial trees from naturally-regenerated stands. Associations representing private forest landowners have been working to open up the definition so that fuels derived from all working forests may qualify. An amendment was not offered during the hearing. However, Chairman John Boozman (R-AR) offered support for changing the definition during his opening statement but conceded that this issue is not in the jurisdiction of the Senate Agriculture Committee. The Hardwood Federation team will continue to monitor developments on this effort closely.
Source: Hardwood Federation