EUDR Impact on the Romanian Forestry Sector

Romania and the EUDR — A Structural Challenge

Romania is one of the largest timber producers in the European Union, with a forest area of approximately 6.9 million hectares, covering about 29% of the country's territory. The Romanian forestry sector employs tens of thousands of people and generates significant exports of sawn timber, furniture and wood products. In this context, the EUDR has direct and profound implications for the Romanian timber industry.

Illegal Logging — The Persistent Problem

Romania has been grappling with the problem of illegal logging for decades. Various reports by environmental NGOs, including those by WWF Romania and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), have documented significant volumes of illegally harvested timber, particularly from virgin and quasi-virgin forests in the Carpathian Mountains. The European Commission has opened infringement proceedings against Romania related to forest protection.

The EUDR arrives in this context as an instrument that should, in theory, prevent illegally sourced timber from reaching the European market. For Romania, this represents both an opportunity to clean up the industry and a major challenge in terms of traceability.

The SUMAL System and Traceability

Romania operates SUMAL (the Timber Tracking System — Sistemul de Urmărire a Materialelor Lemnoase), an IT system managed by the Ministry of Environment that tracks timber transport from harvesting to processing. SUMAL has been updated several times (the current version being SUMAL 2.0) and includes GPS geolocation modules for timber transports.

However, the EUDR requires geolocation at the forest plot level — GPS coordinates of the land where the timber originated. This exceeds the current capabilities of SUMAL, which primarily tracks transport rather than the exact origin of the harvested tree. Integrating SUMAL with the EU EUDR Information System is a priority but also a significant technical challenge.

Industry Warning — National Systems Behind Schedule (July 2026)

In a position published on 19 July 2026, the Romanian Forestry Association (ASFOR) warned that with under six months to the firm 30 December 2026 deadline, the EUDR module of SUMAL has not been built: the Environment Ministry only opened consultations on the enabling legislation in May 2026, and the required government decision is stalled. ASFOR's core concern is duplicated effort — operators would have to enter the same data once in SUMAL and again in the EU Information System — and it calls for systems engineering, complete information for operators, and alignment with European technical practice (such as the EUDR practice community coordinated by the European Forest Institute). The EU-level deadline applies regardless of national readiness, so Romanian operators should prepare to file directly in the EU Information System and register for the Commission's training sessions.

Impact on Small Forest Owners

Romania has an extremely fragmented forest ownership structure. Following the land restitutions after 1989, hundreds of thousands of private owners hold small forest plots, often under 1 hectare. For these owners, EUDR compliance is nearly impossible without institutional support:

• Geolocation and documentation costs are disproportionate relative to the value of harvested timber
• Many plots are not properly registered in the cadastre
• Access to the EUDR digital platform requires skills that many rural owners do not possess
• Composesorate and obști (traditional forms of communal forest ownership) have complex legal structures

The December 2025 targeted revision (see the amendments page) brought concrete relief for small owners: micro and small primary operators producing in low-risk countries — which includes Romania — may file a simplified one-time declaration instead of a full due diligence statement, and their compliance deadline is 30 June 2027.

Romanian Timber Exports

Romania exports timber and wood products primarily to other EU member states, with Italy, Austria and Germany being among the main trading partners. Under the EUDR, these intra-EU trades are also subject to due diligence checks, not just imports from third countries.

Romania's furniture industry, a significant export sector, will need to demonstrate complete traceability of raw materials. This affects major furniture factories in the Moldova and Transylvania regions, which supply European retail chains.

Romania's Classification in the Benchmarking System — Low Risk

Romania is classified as a low-risk country in the Commission's benchmarking system, adopted through Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1093 on 22 May 2025 — as are all EU member states. This means Romanian-sourced commodities qualify for simplified due diligence and the lightest inspection quota (checks on at least 1% of operators, versus 9% for high-risk countries). The classification does not suspend the traceability obligations themselves: geolocation and deforestation-free evidence are still required. The first benchmarking review is scheduled for 2026, and a deterioration in enforcement against illegal logging could in principle affect Romania's status in future reviews.

For practical operator preparation guides, consult eudr.solutions. For the full text of the regulation and legal analysis, visit eudr.live.