About · Fulfilling the requirements of the European Union’s regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR) with 4C (draft)

Providing independent, credible and innovative solutions for sustainable supply chains

4C offers one-stop solution to fulfill requirements of the European Union´s Regulation on deforestion-free products (EUDR)

4C provides a unique process integrating deforestation checks, legality aspects, risk assessment, and traceability, all under one roof, in collaboration with Global Risk Assessment Services (GRAS) to benefit 4C-certified producers, traders, operators, and final buyers. 4C provides tailored services to all supply chain actors to meet the EUDR’s challenging requirements.

On June 29, 2023, the EU regulation on deforestation-free products entered into force. The regulation introduced new legal requirements aimed at combating deforestation and ensuring the legality of imports. It is the intention of this regulation to address global deforestation and promote sustainable practices in various commodity markets, including coffee. As a major economy and consumer of commodities linked to deforestation and forest degradation, the EU is partly responsible for this problem and wants to lead the way to solving it. By enforcing stringent standards that discourage deforestation, protect biodiversity, and uphold the rights of local communities, the EU intends to foster transparency, traceability, and responsible sourcing practices.

The Requirements of the EUDR

 

What is required by the EUDR?

Under the Regulation, any operator or trader who places various commodities incl. coffee and cocoa on the EU market, or exports from it, must be able to prove that the products do not originate from recently deforested land or have contributed to forest degradation. Therefore, they need to implement a due diligence process, including collection of information, risk assessment as well as risk mitigation. Based on this, the operator has to submit a Due Diligence statement to the EU Information system, allowing the import and trade of the respective commodities in the EU.

About GRAS – Global Risk Assessment Services

GRAS is an innovative service which uses latest remote sensing technologies to provide comprehensive sustainability risk assessments to implement and monitor sustainable and deforestation-free supply chains.

4C offers a solution

The EU Regulation recognizes certification or other third-party verified schemes to be used in the risk assessment procedure.

4C certification in combination with the geo-analytics from our partner organization Global Risk Assessment Services (GRAS) provides tailor-made solutions to EU importing operators and their suppliers. Using the available tools of risk assessments for deforestation and land use change by satellite image interpretation combined with additional data sourcing on national legislation, human rights statistics, claims by indigenous peoples, corruption index and law enforcement, conflicts on lands on the one hand and the on-the-ground experience from 4C certification and third-party verification on the other, are the backbone to build a strong due diligence case. Using the existing 4C Portal for uploading and replicating the coffee flow including all relevant actors through the supply chain will allow to demonstrate traceability adequately. Relevant documentation on ‘deforestation-free’ production can be attached to the coffee flow information.

4C covers the three-part approach

 

Part 1 Data Collection:

  • 4C, through its integration of GRAS, provides the tools to collect geo-coordinates of the production areas (polygons and coordinates), farmer IDs, and the avenue to upload and forward any related legal documents to provide evidence on tenure and land use rights.
  • Database to upload geo-information and related documents and checks on deforestation related to coffee production per coffee plot by comparing coffee plots with deforestation maps in a spatial geo analytic process.

Part 2 Risk Analysis:

  • Service to in-depth analysis of the deforestation risk per coffee plot and to send an immediate alert to the coffee managing entity to verify deforestation on farmlands of their coffee producing members. In case of a match, the respective coffee production area will be excluded from the group of EU coffee producers prior to including harvested coffee into the supply chain.
  • Verification tools for checking on national legal requirements, described in the EUDR and mitigate the risk through third party auditing.

Part 3 Risk Mitigation:

  • The 4C Certification System provides the basis for risk mitigation through regular audits as well as continuous monitoring and reporting though the 4C Portal.

4C system provides traceability through the entire supply chain

  • 4C provides the traceability platform to receive information on coffee or cocoa, being inserted into the platform from the moment of sales of coffee or cocoa from the Managing Entity, with all relevant information of geo coordinates and producer IDs, date of production (harvesting date) and amounts per coffee or cocoa plot for further sales and purchasing of coffee or cocoa through the entire supply chain until the moment of entering the EU. Here, a report can be extracted with all relevant data to cover the due diligence statement for the EU importing operator. The same level of information can also be provided in case of any export from the EU after to third countries.
  • 4C and GRAS provide the data storage system for 5 years storing relevant data on each batch of coffee entering or exiting the EU.

Companies Already EUDR Compliant with 4C:

 

In case of any questions, please contact us at: info@4c-services.org