Filing an EUDR due diligence statement in TRACES: the walk-through

Since February 16, 2026, the EUDR Information System has accepted no new statements and no new registrations. The European Commission is updating it to match the regulation as revised in December 2025, the production server stays readable in consultation mode, and the Commission has said it will announce the reopening date from mid-April 2026; as this article goes out, that announcement is still pending. The deadlines have not moved since December: December 30, 2026 for large and mid-sized companies, June 30, 2027 for natural persons and micro and small enterprises. The pause is the right moment to learn the filing circuit, as documented in the Commission's own user guide, published on the Information System page.

The EU Deforestation Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 (EUDR), as amended by Regulation (EU) 2025/2650, requires a due diligence statement (DDS) before seven commodities and their derived products are placed on the EU market or exported: cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soy, and wood. The statement is filed in the EUDR Information System, an instance of TRACES (Trade Control and Expert System), the Commission's trade platform, established under Article 33 of the regulation.

Three layers of access come before the first statement

The account is built in order. First an EU Login account, the shared front door of the Commission's online services. It must be created in the name of a real person, with their professional email address: the user guide expressly rules out generic company accounts. Second, the operator role on the platform itself: you search for your company in the register and request to be linked to it, or create it if it does not exist yet. The first user of a company is approved automatically and becomes its administrator, the person who then validates colleagues' access requests. Third, the EORI number (Economic Operators Registration and Identification), entered under the operator's identifiers as soon as you import or export.

Operators established outside the EU have one more step: an email to the Commission's support service requesting validation, with the competent authority of the member state that issued the EORI in copy.

Good to know: the platform runs two environments, ACCEPTANCE for training, with no legal value, and PRODUCTION for real filings. An account on one grants no access to the other, so plan on registering twice.

The statement itself is a fixed set of boxes

The activity comes first: import (release for free circulation), export, domestic production, or trade. Then the products, picked by HS code (Harmonized System), each with a mandatory description and a quantity: net mass in kilograms is required for import and export, and the scientific name is mandatory for wood products. Then the production plots: coordinates drawn in the GeoEditor, the built-in map tool, or imported as a GeoJSON file in the EPSG:4326 format, with the country of production, the area in hectares, and the plot type for each place.

Two optional fields earn attention. The internal reference, a free field, is how you find the statement again before it has an official number; the guide recommends avoiding spaces, which break the search. And the free-text box addressed to the competent authority, useful for flagging anything a check would otherwise have to ask about.

From draft to reference number, a statement moves through named statuses

At creation the statement is NEW, and the data is lost if you leave without saving. Saved, it becomes DRAFT, with three possible actions: save, submit, delete. Submission is signed in two clicks, "Submit" then "Confirm & Sign", and the statement turns SUBMITTED. The system processes it, then sets it to AVAILABLE and assigns the unique reference number. That number is what goes into the customs declaration, in the supporting-documents section, and what you pass to customers. Six months after becoming AVAILABLE, the statement is automatically ARCHIVED: a technical expiration, the guide specifies, since it remains usable and can still be found through the advanced search. The competent authority can also reject a submission; a REJECTED statement cannot be used at all.

The "Last Changes" panel at the bottom of the page timestamps each step: created on, submitted on, the amendment cutoff date, and the moment the statement became available.

The reference number travels down the chain, the verification number protects it

An AVAILABLE statement carries two numbers. The reference number is unique and meant to circulate: customs, customers, contracts. The verification number is a security token known only to the declarant and the competent authority. Shared confidentially, the pair is what allows a downstream company to reference your statement inside its own, entered by hand or imported as a CSV file of number pairs when volumes are large. A statement that references upstream statements does not repeat their geolocation: the system reads it from the statement cited. Any part of the product not covered by upstream due diligence still needs its own plots.

The December 2025 revision simplified who files. The statement is now owed exclusively by the operator that first places the product on the EU market. A retailer importing its own-brand coffee is that operator and files. The same retailer reselling national brands files nothing, and instead collects the reference numbers of its suppliers' statements and keeps them for five years. Micro and small primary producers in low-risk countries will file a single simplified declaration instead of a statement per batch.

Correcting a filed statement is three different moves, depending on its status

While the statement is SUBMITTED, it can be canceled: it disappears from the default search but stays recorded in the system for audit purposes. Once AVAILABLE, two buttons appear. "Amend" edits the content, up to the cutoff date shown in "Last Changes". "Withdraw" retires the statement if it is no longer needed, with three locks: withdrawal is impossible once the number has been used in a customs declaration, once a downstream company has referenced it, and for the duration of a check by the competent authority. To restart from an existing statement rather than a blank form, "Copy As New" creates a duplicate at the NEW status.

Until the system reopens, the useful work is administrative: create the named EU Login accounts, check the EORI, collect GeoJSON files from suppliers, and decide who in the company files and who validates. When it reopens, go through ACCEPTANCE first. A botched training statement costs nothing, while the same mistake in production has to be corrected under the rules above.

FAQ

What is the difference between the reference number and the verification number of an EUDR due diligence statement?

The reference number is the unique identifier issued when a statement becomes available. It goes into the customs declaration and is passed to customers. The verification number is a security token known only to the declarant and the competent authority; shared confidentially together with the reference number, it lets a downstream company consult and reference the statement in its own filing.

Can a due diligence statement be corrected after submission in TRACES?

Yes, within limits. A statement still in Submitted status can be canceled. Once it is Available, it can be amended until the cutoff date the system displays, or withdrawn. Withdrawal is blocked once the reference number has been used in a customs declaration, once it has been referenced by a downstream company, or while the statement is under a check.

Does a retailer have to file its own EUDR due diligence statements?

Only when it is the operator first placing the product on the EU market, for example when it imports own-brand coffee, cocoa, or wood products. When it resells products already placed on the market by someone else, it does not file; it collects the reference numbers of its suppliers' statements and keeps them for five years.

How long must EUDR due diligence records be kept?

Five years. Companies must retain their due diligence statements and the reference numbers collected from suppliers for five years, and be able to produce them for the competent authorities.