"Yotchanan" pushes for urgent discussions with the EUDR board to promote Thai agricultural products free from deforestation ahead of the EU's import ban on deforestation-linked goods, effective 31 Dec.
On 27 Oct 2026 GMT+7, Deputy Prime Minister Yotchanan Wongsawat chaired the first 2026 meeting of the national committee addressing impacts on agricultural products under the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Ms. Piyaratch Tiyapairat, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, and representatives from 33 related government and private agencies attended.
At the meeting, Yotchanan explained the background and impact of the EUDR on Thai agricultural products, urging all sectors to view this as an opportunity to turn a crisis into a competitive advantage. He noted that if Thailand can adapt faster than ASEAN competitors like Vietnam, Indonesia, and Singapore, Thai exporters will gain a market edge and increase their share in the European Union (EU).
Beyond trade, the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that complying with the EUDR lays important environmental foundations for Thailand, benefiting forest conservation and elevating the sustainability of the country's natural resource preservation in the long term.
The EU's EUDR sets conditions for seven main product groups—rubber, palm oil, cattle, timber, coffee, cocoa, and soybeans—including related processed products. These must be free from deforestation, legally produced by the country of origin, and undergo due diligence checks. In 2025, Thailand exported these products to the EU worth over 60.26 billion baht, representing 7.29% of its global exports. Rubber accounted for the largest share, valued at 54.45 billion baht.
Regarding current national policy implementation, the secretariat reported progress on national mechanisms and pilot projects during 2025–2026, involving cooperation among the EU delegation in Thailand, the European Forest Institute (EFI), and the Rubber Authority of Thailand (RAOT).
The pilot project focuses on developing skills of smallholder rubber farmers to comply with EUDR criteria in two provinces: Songkhla and Nong Khai. The 24-month project (Jan 2025–Dec 2026) is funded by the EU with a budget of 1 million euros.
On agenda items for consideration, the meeting approved the secretariat's proposal to appoint the "Subcommittee to Drive Implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR)" with the Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives as chair, tasked with planning, coordinating integrated measures domestically and internationally.
Next, on addressing farmer registration and traceability issues, the meeting agreed to adopt the "National EUDR Single Window (NESW)" platform, developed by the Agricultural Research Development Agency (Public Organization) (ARDA), and to hand over management to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DOAE) as a centralized platform to register farmers and link data to assist exporters.
The secretariat explained that the NESW system is designed to comply with EUDR requirements, covering all seven agricultural products, and can store data from upstream to downstream, clearly showing the chain of custody and whether products originate from deforested areas.
Upon processing, NESW generates two key documents: a Due Diligence Report (DDR) summary for submitting a Due Diligence Statement (DDS), and geographic coordinate data of cultivation plots in GeoJSON file format.
NESW uses existing government databases, with over 2.5 million mapped plots currently. Although data are not official government certifications, the database is regularly verified and updated annually.
Additionally, this year the system will allow farmers to retrospectively enter their data to generate reports for exporters to submit to customs and EU authorities for verification.
Key features of the NESW platform include: 1) it is an open government platform; 2) private sector and exporters can register free of charge; 3) it uses reliable government reference data; and 4) it is highly flexible, allowing expansion to other agricultural products or new environmental regulations from the EU and trade partners in the future.
Regarding legal compliance and certification schemes, the secretariat reported that the EU requested partner countries to designate a focal point agency responsible for providing legal information as reference for the EU's verification processes.
Voluntary participation in providing this information signals Thailand's commitment to compliance, enhancing the country's credibility and trade advantages for Thai exporters. The EU system will open for data entry before the law's enforcement deadline of 30 Dec 2026.
The EU requires two main data sets: 1) a legal repository of the producing country's laws related to EUDR, with Thailand having collected 50 documents across 8 legal categories in the EUDR Knowledge Center, requiring a focal point agency to coordinate and input data; and 2) a repository for certification schemes.
On this matter, cooperation with the Ministry of Commerce has been sought to consider whether it can serve as the focal point for legal data coordination, with a request to report back within a week. If unable, suggestions for an appropriate agency are requested to inform all parties through meeting reports.
Furthermore, the meeting approved plans to enhance capacity and support those affected in producing, selling, and exporting EUDR products throughout the supply chain. This includes preparing phase two of the Thai smallholder project with the EU and EFI to expand to rubber timber, coffee, and palm oil, with EU funding of approximately 1.5–2 million euros. The next national EUDR committee meeting, the second of 2026, is scheduled for December to allow the newly appointed subcommittee time to advance tasks before the EUDR law takes effect for large and medium enterprises on 31 Dec 2026.
