EUDR: are you an operator or a trader? The first placing on the market decides

A container of teak chairs cleared through customs in Le Havre makes its importer an "operator" under the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR, Regulation (EU) 2023/1115). The retail chains that will sell those chairs in France are "traders". The gap between the two roles is the whole compliance bill: on one side, full due diligence, plot-level geolocation included; on the other, for a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME), a record of suppliers and customers. Working out which one you are is the first EUDR decision your company makes, and it is settled flow by flow, legal entity by legal entity.

This article describes the regulation as amended by Regulation (EU) 2025/2650, published on December 23, 2025, which moved application to December 30, 2026 for medium and large companies and June 30, 2027 for micro and small enterprises.

Two roles, and a wide gap in obligations

Article 2 of the regulation defines the operator as any natural or legal person who, in the course of a commercial activity, places relevant products on the EU market or exports them. The trader is anyone in the supply chain, other than the operator, who makes those products available on the market. The relevant commodities are cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soy, and wood, plus the derived products listed in Annex I, from chocolate to wooden furniture to tires.

The operator carries most of the text: collect the geolocation coordinates of the plots where the commodity was produced, assess the deforestation risk, reduce it to a negligible level, then file a due diligence statement (DDS) in the Commission's information system before placing the product on the market. Since the December 2025 revision, only operators who first place the product on the market, or who export it, file that statement. Actors further down the chain no longer file their own: those buying directly from the operator collect and keep the reference numbers of the statements, and downstream companies that are not SMEs register in the information system.

The placing on the market is the moment that decides everything

"Placing on the market" means the first making available of a product on the EU market. "Making available" means any supply of a product for distribution, consumption, or use in the course of a commercial activity. Two consequences follow. Importing is placing: the goods were not on the EU market before you brought them in. And buying from an EU-established supplier is not: someone upstream already placed the product, so you make it available as a trader.

The same company holds both roles at once, flow by flow. A farm equipment manufacturer that imports its tires from Asia is the operator for those tires, even though they are one component among hundreds on its machines. A DIY retailer that buys beechwood tool handles from a Dutch importer is a trader for that flow; order the same handles directly from a Serbian sawmill and it becomes the operator. Exporting Annex I products out of the EU also makes you an operator, whatever your role was before.

SME traders get a deliberately light regime

Article 5 asks an SME trader for records, and only records: the names, addresses, and DDS reference numbers of the companies that supplied it, the same details for the companies it supplied, kept for five years and produced on request from the competent authorities. No geolocation, no risk assessment, no filing. A trader that learns a product may not comply must inform the authorities.

SME status follows Article 3 of the EU Accounting Directive (2013/34/EU): a company stays medium-sized as long as it does not exceed at least two of three ceilings, 250 employees, €50 million in turnover, and €25 million in balance sheet total. Above that it is a large company, and a large trader loses the relief: it must register in the information system and, when buying directly from the operator, collect the statement reference numbers.

Good to know: the Commission's FAQ on EUDR implementation confirms the status is assessed per legal entity, based on its own accounts, and the group's consolidated size does not enter into it. A 45-person distribution subsidiary inside a 2,000-person group is an SME trader under the EUDR.

Group structures flip the role

Because roles attach to legal entities, the same goods can produce three different compliance maps depending on how your group is wired.

A central import entity makes everyone else a trader. The Commission's FAQ is explicit that an intra-group sale with a transfer of ownership counts as making available on the market. If one entity imports and invoices its sister companies, that entity is the operator for the whole group, and the sisters are traders, most of them likely SME traders with a record-keeping duty and nothing more.

Direct imports multiply operators. If each subsidiary clears its own containers, each one is an operator, files its own statements, and answers for its own due diligence, including the small ones once their date arrives.

A non-EU parent selling directly does not shield anyone. Under Article 7, when a person established outside the EU places products on the market, the first person established in the EU who makes them available is deemed the operator, with the full duty that comes with it. A French subsidiary invoicing goods shipped by its Swiss parent is that person.

Article 6 lets an operator appoint an authorized representative to file statements in its name, so a group can centralize the paperwork. It cannot centralize the liability: responsibility for the products' compliance stays with the operator.

What to do before the deadline

Before December 30, 2026, map each legal entity against three questions: who invoices the first EU sale of each Annex I product, which entities exceed the SME ceilings, and where you want the operator role to sit. The role follows from the flows, and as long as the flows are not frozen, it can still be chosen.

FAQ

Can the same company be both an operator and a trader under the EUDR?

Yes. The role is assessed per product flow, not per company. A company is an operator for the products it imports into the EU or exports, and a trader for the products it buys from EU-established suppliers and resells.

Our non-EU supplier says it handles EUDR compliance. Are we covered?

Not automatically. Under Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1115, when a seller established outside the EU places products on the market, the first person established in the EU who makes them available is deemed the operator and carries the due diligence duty.

When does the EUDR apply to my company?

Following Regulation (EU) 2025/2650, the EUDR applies from December 30, 2026 for medium-sized and large companies, and from June 30, 2027 for micro and small enterprises.