We’re ready for EUDR…are you?

In this eye-opening article, Earthsight highlights what Europe’s designer handbags, specifically, are costing the rainforest.

Earthsight, which exposes crime and corruption linked to global commodities, has completed its own analysis of the industry. It found that ‘the supply chains of leather suppliers to luxury fashion brand Coach are linked to illegal cattle ranching in the Amazon rainforest in Pará state, northern Brazil, where COP30 will take place in November 2025’.

The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is of course springing into action, and, as of 30 December 2025, will ban certain goods from entering the EU market that have been manufactured illegally, or on land which has been deforested after 31 December 2020.

Ahead of the Game

Of course, we’re aware of EUDR here at Nene Valley Leather and are fully compliant and ahead of the game…are you?

You can rest assured that we do not use South American hides at Nene Valley Leather, while our European hides are from a fully traceable supply.

Here’s what we’re doing, in light of the new regulations:

• We’ve initiated a structured compliance process. It’s worth knowing, also, that 100% of our leather already comes from EUDR-compliant suppliers
• A laser stamping system has been implemented for each Wet Blue hide. This allows unique traceability to the origin batch. We’re already registered on the EU TRACES platform, ready to receive Due Diligence Statements (DDS) from European raw material suppliers (meat packers). We’ll also integrate DDS reference numbers into our internal systems, which will ensure full documentation continuity across the supply chain
• We hold Leather Working Group (LWG) certifications for quality and sustainability, which supports traceability processes; with support of Unione Nazionale Industria Conciaria, UNIC (also known as Italian Tanners’ Association), we’re participating in the development of a platform dedicated to supply chain risk assessment and mitigation.

If you aren’t yet a customer of ours, perhaps it’s a good time to get in touch with your existing supplier to confirm if they’re aware of the proposed regulations and are taking the right steps forward.

Benefit from Confidence in Our Products and Practices

Falling under the ‘Micro and Small Primary Operators’ category’, we are exempt from the obligation to submit a due diligence statement.

What we will reiterate though is this: our hides aren’t affected by anything outlined in the regulations and our customers – both current and prospective – can benefit from full confidence in our products and practices.

If your supplier is a micro and small primary operator, like us, they will be required to submit a one-time simplified declaration in the information system; the conditions of the declaration are defined within the regulations. This will generate a declaration identifier which is passed on with all relevant products, placed on the market or exported, by a micro and small primary operator.

Simplifying Current Regulations

The proposal, via EUDR, is yet to be accepted, but it has been set out to simplify the original regulations.

Aiming to make the rules easier to follow, the new proposal will introduce a streamlined process for micro and small companies in low-risk countries, exempting them from full due diligence requirements. Instead, they’ll have to submit a one-time, simplified declaration. It also proposes a six-month grace period for the enforcement of the regulation, meaning the initial deadlines are likely to shift. 

There will undoubtedly be more changes and developments in the coming weeks, and we will make sure we stay abreast of them here at Nene Valley Leather so we can continue to communicate them to you – watch this space.

The Nene Valley Leather team