What documents do you need for the EUDR declaration on wood?
Anyone importing or trading wood or wood products needs four main types of documents for the EUDR declaration: trading documents that identify the consignment, proof of the legal origin of the wood, geolocation data of the plot or forest area where felling took place, and data on the wood species itself. For composite products such as furniture, an additional layer is added, and that is precisely the point where dossiers for wood are often more complex than for a raw material that arrives as a single unmixed consignment.
Below is what is typically collected, and why in particular the section on composite products requires so much attention for wood.
Trading and transport documents
The basis consists of invoices, packing lists, transport documents and customs documents that link the wood consignment or wood product to a supplier, a volume and a moment of import. These documents show what consignment is involved, but say nothing in themselves about the origin; the following categories are needed for that.
Proof of legal origin
Wood that has been felled should be covered by documents that demonstrate the legality of that felling: felling permits, concession or ownership certificates of the forest plot, and where applicable permits valid under the legislation of the country of origin. What is precisely required here varies greatly by country, because forestry legislation and permitting systems are organised differently in each jurisdiction. Competent authorities assess, among other things, how consistent these documents are with the geolocation data and with the risk classification of the country.
Geolocation data of the felling area
For wood products, as for other raw materials, the plots where harvesting took place must be recorded with geolocation data. In forestry this is often more complex than for an agricultural plot: a wood consignment can come from several felling blocks within one concession area, spread over a larger area. How you obtain and assess that data is a separate process; the knowledge base works that through per situation.
Species identification and protected wood species
A third category is documentation on the wood species itself: the trade name and the scientific name. For some wood species, legislation on protected species also plays a role, such as agreements on international trade in endangered species. This detail is requested more often for wood than for other raw materials, because not every raw material under the regulation is assessed at species level, whereas for wood this is regularly the case.
The detail that matters most for wood: composite products
Whereas cocoa or coffee typically arrives as a fairly homogeneous consignment, a wood product often consists of multiple components with their own origin. For example, a piece of furniture may have a frame of one wood species and veneer of another, each with its own supplier, country of origin and possibly its own risk classification. For the due diligence declaration this means that one set of documents is not sufficient: for each component that must be traceable, the origin is separately substantiated. Anyone reselling wood to another market participant often also takes over the reference number of a previously submitted declaration, so that the chain remains traceable without each component being documented from scratch again. Precisely this interplay between multiple origins within one product is where dossiers for wood products in practice take the most time.
What you do with these documents
These documents together form the basis of the dossier from which the declaration of due diligence is built: structured, validated against each other, and linked to the correct risk classification of the country of origin. How exactly that structure is established is explained on the page explaining the procedure. The legal risk assessment of the consignment always remains with the economic operator themselves; structuring and validating is different from declaring that a timber consignment is deforestation-free.
Retention and submission
Once the documents have been collected, timber products are subject to the same retention obligation as the other materials: the underlying documents must remain available for five years, even after the declaration has been submitted. If you are uncertain whether your dossier is complete for a specific situation, an overview of frequently asked questions often provides initial clarity; these are gathered on the FAQ page.
For the exact requirements on legality documentation, licences and species identification in your own situation, the official text of the regulation or advice from a lawyer remains the reference point; this article provides an overview, not individual advice.
Do you want to know which part of this list is relevant for your own timber stream, and from which date it will apply to you? Take the free role check in a few questions and see immediately where you stand.