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.

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 Omnibus proposal (see the amendments page) could bring relief for small owners through the introduction of de minimis thresholds and simplified requirements for low-risk countries.

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

A crucial aspect will be the classification Romania receives in the European Commission's benchmarking system: high, standard or low risk. This classification will determine the intensity of checks applied to Romanian timber. Given the history of illegal logging issues, there is a risk that Romania could be classified as high risk, which would impose checks on 9% of operators — far stricter than those for low-risk countries (1%).

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