If you’ve been following this blog, you will be very familiar with the ongoing saga of the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation, also known as EUDR. In our most recent update, we shared that a major edit to the legislation, including a delay to the implementation date to December 2026, was being considered by the European Commission, Council, and Parliament, and would proceed if all three parties agreed in trilogue.
With the December 2025 implementation rapidly approaching, that agreement has come. On December 17, 2025, the European Parliament ratified the amendments as previously proposed, which include:
A uniform delay in applicability for all operators until December 2026
Simplifications for operators as proposed by the Commission, with additional reduced obligations for downstream operators.
A requirement for the European Commission to conduct a simplification review of Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 and present a report by April 30, 2026.
The Parliament position would also remove HS49 from Annex 1.
The last point on the list is notable for the publishing industry. This removes Chapter 49, which encompasses “printed books, newspapers, pictures and other products of the printing industry, manuscripts, typescripts and plans, of paper” from the scope of the legislation, as of this December 2025 update.
What comes next?
The EUDR amendment has been approved by all parties and has now been published in the Official Journal of the European Union, as referenced here: Regulation - EU - 2025/2650 - EN - EUR-Lex.
While the amendments, including the official delay of the implementation date to December 2026, have been approved, this does not mean that Canadian publishers exporting to the EU should remove EUDR from their minds. As noted above, a simplification review of the Regulation will be due by April 30, 2026, and changes known or not yet known at present could come into play.
At a minimum, Canadian publishers exporting stationery products, such as notebooks and journals, to the EU should continue to prepare for EUDR’s delayed implementation in December 2026, as the amended legislation continues to include pulp, paper, and other paper products often traded by the publishing industry.
Lessons learned: Non-monetary tariffs
Distinct from the monetary that have been dominating import and export conversations in North America, from USA President Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs and the forthcoming review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) in 2026, non-monetary tariffs present restrictions on trade that don’t appear in the form of taxes or payments to the destination country, but effectively restrict imports/exports in other ways. And, just as monetary tariffs have proven to disrupt trade relationships and the economic position of importers and exporters, non-monetary tariffs have disrupted many industries in recent years, including publishing.
The last several years navigating the many changes to the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation, as well as the European Accessibility Act (EAA) and General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), have offered many lessons for the publishing industry on non-monetary tariffs. Namely, that a solid risk management plan for Canadian importers and exporters must consider a monitoring system for policy changes in the markets where the exporter has an ongoing or emerging trade strategy.
Such a monitoring system can be in-house or trusted with partner organizations. In the case of the Canadian publishing industry, Livres Canada Books is an excellent steward in this regard, and for EUDR matters, one can also look to the stellar leadership of EDItEUR, which took a prominent leadership role from the early days of EUDR (for example), as well as the Green Book Alliance and its member organizations of the Book Industry Communication (BIC), Book Industry Study Group (BISG) and BookNet Canada. Of note: BIC has already confirmed that its excellent EUDR Practicalities Project will continue into 2026 to make sense of the changes and to establish and publish guidance for the organizations in the UK supply chain that will still be affected by EUDR.
EU regulations for the North American book supply chain: Webinar on export preparedness for publishers coming in January 2026
By now, EAA, EUDR, and GPSR are probably part of your vocabulary, whether they directly affect your business or not. But the recent and upcoming European directives that impact the book industry don’t end there. Laetitia Reynaud, Senior Policy & Economic Advisor at Intergraf and Graham Bell, Executive Director at EDItEUR, will join BookNet’s Tech Forum webinar series on January 20, 2026 to share an overview of other lesser-known legislation that participants in the North American book supply chain should keep an eye on as they prepare for what’s next.
Reminder: EDItEUR updates its ONIX documentation
With the recent news considered, EDItEUR has released another update to their essential and comprehensive Application Note, EU Deforestation Regulation and ONIX. (PDF).
For French language readers, Livres Canada Books and BTLF have collaborated with BookNet Canada on a Quebec French translation, ONIX et le Règlement européen contre la déforestation (PDF).
Other resources
BookNet’s Collected Resources Relating to European Union (EU) Legislation page is available and is continually updated.
The latest news out of the European Commission.