1
Deforestation-free
The plot must not have been deforested, or subject to forest degradation for wood products, after December 31, 2020.
Compliance Guide · Updated June 17, 2026
EU Deforestation Regulation Guide for Vietnam Agricultural Exporters
EUDR changes how Vietnam coffee, rubber and wood products enter the EU. The regulation is not just a certificate request; it is a plot-level traceability, satellite-screening and legal-production evidence system.
Vietnam status
Low risk in EU annex
Main deadline
December 30, 2026
Cutoff date
December 31, 2020
Core Rule
The Three Conditions Every Covered Shipment Must Meet
EU operators must be able to prove that covered products are deforestation-free, legal and traceable before they place them on the EU market or export them from the EU.
2
Legally produced
Production must comply with Vietnamese law, including land-use rights, environmental rules, labor requirements and applicable local approvals.
3
Traceable to plot
Each shipment must be linked to farm geolocation: GPS points for plots up to 4 ha and polygons for plots above 4 ha.
Scope
Which Vietnam Supply Chains Are Exposed?
For GreenTech buyers, coffee is the immediate concern, but the same operating model applies to other Vietnam agricultural and forestry exports in scope.
Coffee
Green Robusta, Arabica, roasted coffee and selected coffee products
Rubber
Natural rubber, sheets, technically specified rubber and certain rubber products
Wood and timber
Logs, sawn wood, furniture, paper and selected wood-derived products
Cocoa, soy, palm oil, cattle
Covered globally; relevant if a Vietnam exporter handles these supply chains
Timeline
Dates That Drive Procurement Planning
- 1
December 31, 2020
Cutoff date
Land converted from forest to agricultural use after this date cannot be used for EUDR-covered EU shipments.
- 2
June 29, 2023
EUDR entered into force
Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 became active and replaced the EU Timber Regulation framework.
- 3
May 22, 2025
Country benchmarking annex
The EU listed Vietnam as a low-risk country in the country-risk annex.
- 4
December 30, 2026
Large and medium operators
Full obligations apply to large and medium operators and traders.
- 5
June 30, 2027
Micro and small operators
Application date for qualifying micro and small operators and traders.
Vietnam's low-risk classification reduces the expected inspection burden, but it does not remove plot geolocation, due diligence statement or evidence-retention requirements.
Supply Chain Roles
Who Does What?
Data custodian
Vietnamese exporters
- Collect GPS points or farm-boundary polygons for covered plots
- Connect farmer, collector, processor, warehouse and container lots
- Keep legal-production evidence such as land-use, farm-registration and labor records
- Separate EU-ready material from unmapped or non-compliant lots
Legal filer
EU importers and operators
- Run a due diligence system before placing products on the EU market
- Assess deforestation, legality and supply-chain complexity risks
- Submit a Due Diligence Statement through the EUDR Information System
- Keep the statement reference number and evidence file for audit readiness
Satellite Verification
How Land History Is Checked
EUDR screening normally combines field geolocation with satellite and forest-risk layers. The goal is to prove the plot was already legal agricultural land before the cutoff date, not recently converted forest.
Existing canopy Field plot Non-forest
Sentinel-2 optical imagery
Free Copernicus imagery used for vegetation and land-cover change checks. Its 10 m bands are useful for recurring screening, but cloud cover can limit tropical visibility.
Sentinel-1 radar imagery
Synthetic aperture radar helps monitor through cloud and rain, which matters in Vietnam during wet-season checks.
Landsat historical archive
Long-running USGS/NASA imagery helps establish pre-2020 land-use history and distinguish old plantations from recent conversion.
Commercial high-resolution imagery
Paid imagery can help resolve disputes around smallholder plots, field edges and mixed land-use boundaries.
GIS and traceability software
Compliance platforms ingest GeoJSON or KML farm data, clean geometry errors, compare against forest-risk layers and attach results to shipment records.
Roadmap
Operational Plan for an EUDR-Ready Shipment
01
Scope
Confirm product and HS-code coverage
Map every EU-bound SKU to the EUDR annex. Do this before contracts, because covered and non-covered products require different evidence files.
02
Map
Collect plot-level geolocation
Use mobile mapping or supplier portals to gather points and polygons. Province, district, collector or mill location is not enough.
03
Verify
Screen land history and legality
Check post-2020 tree-cover change, land-use status, farm documents and local legal production records before accepting the lot.
04
Control
Separate compliant material
Prevent batch mixing during collection, milling, storage and container loading. Yield-to-plot ratios should match physical reality.
05
File
Prepare the DDS evidence package
EU operators need product details, quantity, origin coordinates, supplier data, risk assessment and mitigation evidence before customs entry.
Checklist
Pre-Shipment Compliance File
Use this as a practical handoff between procurement, quality, logistics and the EU importer before the container leaves Vietnam.
- 01 Annex I product and HS-code scope confirmed
- 02 Supplier contracts require EUDR data sharing and change notification
- 03 GPS point or polygon collected for every plot in the lot
- 04 GeoJSON/KML files checked for duplicate, overlapping or invalid geometries
- 05 Satellite screening completed against the December 31, 2020 cutoff
- 06 Vietnamese land-use and legal-production records collected
- 07 Collector, processor, warehouse and container lot IDs linked
- 08 EU-ready lots physically segregated from unmapped material
- 09 Due Diligence Statement data prepared for the EU Information System
- 10 Records archived for audit and buyer review
FAQ
Common EUDR Questions
Is Vietnam low risk under EUDR?
Yes. The European Commission country-risk annex published on May 22, 2025 lists Vietnam as a low-risk country. Low risk reduces the level of checks, but it does not remove the need for plot geolocation, traceability and legality evidence.
Do Vietnamese smallholder farmers submit EUDR statements directly?
Usually no. Smallholders provide farm and legal-production data to exporters, cooperatives or processors. The EU operator or trader is responsible for the formal Due Diligence Statement.
Are certificates enough for EUDR compliance?
No. Certifications can support risk assessment, but EUDR still requires product-specific due diligence, plot geolocation and evidence that the land was not deforested after December 31, 2020.
What is the biggest practical risk in Vietnam supply chains?
Batch mixing. Coffee, rubber and timber can pass through collectors, mills and warehouses before export, so compliant plots must stay linked to physical lots all the way to shipment.
Sources
Primary References
European Commission: Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (opens in new tab)
Official overview, current application dates and implementation resources.
Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 (opens in new tab)
Legal text covering scope, due diligence, geolocation and enforcement obligations.
Country benchmarking annex (opens in new tab)
Commission annex listing low-risk and high-risk countries, including Vietnam as low risk.
EUDR Information System (opens in new tab)
Official registry for Due Diligence Statements and geolocation uploads.
EU Observatory on Deforestation and Forest Degradation (opens in new tab)
Public maps and datasets for forest cover and land-use monitoring.
Copernicus Sentinel missions (opens in new tab)
Primary satellite data sources commonly used in EUDR screening workflows.
USGS Landsat Missions (opens in new tab)
Historical satellite archive used for land-cover baseline and change analysis.
This guide is general business information, not legal advice. EU operators should confirm obligations with a qualified trade-compliance specialist and current European Commission guidance before filing a Due Diligence Statement.
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