(Business in Cameroon) – Last week, the European Commission proposed a one-year delay in enforcing the European Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), initially set to take effect in December 2024. The new implementation date is December 30, 2025, with an extension until June 30, 2026, for small businesses. The Commission cited the lack of preparedness among international partners as a key reason for the delay.
Three months before the planned implementation, “several global partners have repeatedly expressed concerns about their state of preparedness,” the Commission said in a statement. It also noted uneven preparedness in Europe, where some stakeholders are ready, but others remain worried.
Adopted in May 2023, the EUDR aims to ban the import and sale of products linked to deforestation in Europe after December 30, 2020. The regulation covers seven key agricultural products and their derivatives: cocoa, coffee, rubber, palm oil, soy, beef, and wood. To comply, these products must be certified as “deforestation-free,” meet the laws of their country of origin, and be backed by a due diligence declaration submitted through a centralized European Commission system.
In a statement signed in Abidjan in late September, cocoa-producing countries requested a two-year extension to comply with the EUDR, calling the timeline “unrealistic” given the regulation’s requirements, such as geolocating plots and creating a comprehensive traceability system. The delay is seen as a small victory for these nations, particularly Cameroon, the world’s fourth-largest cocoa producer, according to the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO).
For Cameroon, the extension provides critical time to address three major challenges. First, the country must establish a robust traceability system for its agricultural products, especially cocoa, to ensure transparency from farm to export. Second, it needs to boost efforts to produce cocoa sustainably without damaging forests. Finally, meeting legal requirements is essential to maintaining access to the European market, where the EU remains the largest cocoa importer, accounting for 60% of global imports, primarily from Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Cameroon.
According to the EU, cocoa is “one of the drivers of deforestation in Cameroon.” To access the European market, Cameroonian cocoa will need to meet strict traceability requirements, be certified as “deforestation-free,” and comply with the country’s land use, environmental, human rights, and trade laws. This means producers farming on recently deforested land will no longer be able to sell their crops to major buyers nationally or internationally.
In response to these challenges, Cameroon recently launched a data-sharing platform overseen by the Cocoa and Coffee Interprofessional Council (CICC). The platform centralizes geolocation data for cocoa and coffee plots, providing a detailed map that will help exporters ensure the sustainability of their products. Through this initiative, Cameroon hopes to meet European standards while maintaining its position in the EU market.
Cocoa is a strategic resource for Cameroon, representing the country’s third-largest source of foreign exchange in 2023, accounting for 12% of total export revenue, behind crude oil (37.7%) and liquefied natural gas (14.1%), according to the National Institute of Statistics (INS). Cocoa derivatives such as paste and butter made up 5.2% of total export revenues. In 2023, exports of raw cocoa to the EU increased by 18.6%, generating CFA263.9 billion, or 17.3% of exports to the EU. Cocoa derivatives represented 3.3% and 4.2% of total exports to the EU that same year.
