Leather excluded from the scope of the EUDR

On July 13, the European Commission published the delegated act that updates and simplifies the list of products covered by the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). The final text confirms what had already been outlined in the draft released in May: cattle hides, at any stage of processing, will not fall within the scope of the regulation.
This is an important milestone for the tanning sector and the associations representing it, including UNIC – Concerie Italiane and Cotance, which have been engaged on this issue since the legislative process began in 2021. This is a significant result, but it represents a crucial step rather than the final stage of the process.

The Commission’s Rationale
The comments gathered during the public consultation period reinforced the Commission’s position on the appropriateness of excluding bovine leather from the EUDR. Brussels recognizes that hides and skins are a byproduct of the livestock industry and that tanneries lack the necessary tools to obtain all the information required by the regulation.
The Commission also points out that including only bovine leather—without extending the requirements to finished leather products—would have created a market distortion. Such a decision, rather than reducing the risks associated with deforestation, would simply have shifted those risks to other areas of the global market.

Next Steps
With the publication of the delegated act and its notification to the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament, a two-month scrutiny period now begins. Although the Parliament may request an extension of the scrutiny period, this seems unlikely.
If no objections are raised by September 13, the act will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and will definitively enter into force. At that point, the exclusion of bovine leather from the scope of the EUDR will also become official.