EUDR: Deforestation (DF) Check

This article explains what a Deforestation Check is and what types Prewave offers.

What is a Deforestation Check?

A Deforestation Check is a verification process used to determine whether a specific land area has been subject to deforestation after the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) cutoff date (December 31, 2020).

Understanding DF Checks

To ensure your products meet the EU's deforestation-free and legality requirements, operators and traders should follow a structured process. This means checking that products do not come from land deforested after December 31, 2020. To verify this, satellite images and aerial photos can be used to confirm the location of commodities and detect any deforestation links. Prewave collaborates with our partner Satelligence to carry out those Deforestation Checks.

Article 3(a) of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) mandates that products placed on or exported from the EU market must be "deforestation-free." This means that the commodities used in these products must not have been produced on land subjected to deforestation or forest degradation after December 31, 2020.

Deforestation-Free (Negligible DF Checks within Prewave) refers to plots that have shown no deforestation since the EUDR Article 3a cutoff
Non-Deforestation Free (non-negligible DF checks within Prewave) corresponds to noncompliant with EUDR Article 3a. Plots in this category contain deforested areas since the EUDR cutoff date and therefore the products from these plots cannot be placed on the European market.

Types of Deforestation Checks

At Prewave, we provide two levels of Deforestation Checks: Basic and Advanced (Detailed) checks, to assess the risk of deforestation associated with your product's supply chain.

Basic Deforestation Check

Initially, a basic deforestation check is conducted. This check is required only if the Supplier Maturity Assessment result is negative and if the supplier is located outside of the EU.

If the result shows negligible risk, the product is considered to come from a deforestation-free area.
If the result shows a non-negligible risk, the product is considered to come from a deforestation area and needs an advanced check.

Advanced Deforestation Check

If the Basic Deforestation Check indicates a non-negligible risk, an Advanced Deforestation Check can be requested. If an advanced check is required, Prewave will forward your request and integrate the responses from Satelligence in our EUDR Process landscape.This more detailed check comes at an additional cost, so we recommend that your project team aligns on the decision before proceeding with this step. You can monitor your remaining available advanced checks in Prewave, based on your contract terms.

You can view the remaining checks by hovering over the “Request Advanced Check” field in Prewave or find the information in your contract under "Advanced Satellite Validation". The Advanced Check also has two possible outcomes:

If the Advanced Check reveals negligible risk, the product can be placed on the EU market.
However, if significant risk is identified, the product cannot be made available on the market, and the creation of a DDS will be blocked. No further advanced checks can be performed.

If you want to perform a Deforestation Check, please refer to this article in order to read more about the request process within Prewave.