Intergraf, the European association of the national print associations, held its annual “Print Matters” conference in June 2024 in Romania. Among the topics, two garnered special interest, as they affect the European print industry as a whole and are set to come into effect soon. Those are the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the EU deforestation regulation. The EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) has been covered here. Time to turn to the deforestation regulation.

Among several upcoming sustainability regulations affecting printers, the EU regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR) is likely to have the biggest effect. The regulation was passed in the EU parliament in May 2023 and will start to apply on December 30, 2024. For SMEs, the deadline will be June 30, 2025. It does replace the EU timber regulation when in force. The EUDR covers seven products like cattle, soy, or wood, and derived products, which include wood products and hence paper.

Maja Drca from PEFC international and Ulrich Stetter, CEO of Druckhaus Mainfranken and Intergraf president, presented on the status of the regulation and first experiences. PEFC is a non-profit third-party certification organization for wood products.