Guide
What a European buyer has to build first.
Six obligations, all of them yours rather than the producer's, and two dates inside the next eighteen months that change both the paperwork and the tariff. The deforestation data in particular takes months to collect from a smallholder chain, which makes it a decision for now.
Two dates and an agreement.
- 30 December 2026
- The European deforestation regulation applies. Coffee, cocoa, palm, rubber and wood need geolocation back to the plot and a due diligence statement from the operator placing the goods on the market.1
- 1 January 2027
- Indonesia leaves the EU general scheme of preferences. Goods that currently enter under it need a different basis or pay the standard rate from that date.2
- The partnership agreement
- The comprehensive economic partnership agreement between the EU and Indonesia changes the tariff basis where it applies, with its own rules of origin and its own proof. Check your line against both positions before pricing next year.3
Six things, in order.
- 01
Find out whether your goods hit a border control post
Animal products, most food of plant origin and live material arrive at a designated post with prior notification. Furniture and homeware do not. This single split decides most of what follows.6
- 02
Prepare the deforestation due diligence
Coffee, cocoa, palm, rubber and wood are inside the regulation and it reaches derived products. From December 2026 you need plot geolocation and a due diligence statement, and in a smallholder chain that data takes months to collect.1
- 03
Check your tariff position for 2027
Indonesia leaves the EU general scheme of preferences on 1 January 2027, and the partnership agreement changes the basis where it applies. Whether your line gets better or worse depends entirely on the line.2
- 04
Take the product safety role for consumer goods
Furniture, homeware and décor need an economic operator established in the Union responsible for them, plus traceability and technical documentation. An Indonesian producer cannot fill that role.4
- 05
Register for packaging in each market you sell into
Whoever first places packaging on a national market finances its collection and recycling. It is national rather than European, so several markets means several registrations, and it is a recurring cost rather than a border document.5
- 06
Settle labelling in the destination language
Before production, because relabelling a container is expensive and sometimes not permitted. Requirements are national even though the framework is European, and artwork for one member state does not serve another.
One regulation, twenty-seven enforcers.
The rules are European and the people applying them are national. Which authority you deal with, which language the label carries, which packaging register you join and how inspection is organised all change at each border. Germany devolves food control to its federal states. The Netherlands runs one authority. Czechia has no coastline and clears somewhere else entirely.
The practical consequence is that experience importing into one member state transfers less than buyers expect. The country pages set out what is genuinely national in each.
Questions buyers ask.
Does EUDR really apply to my product?
If it is coffee, cocoa, palm, rubber or wood, or something derived from them, yes. That covers a large share of what Indonesia exports, and it reaches processed goods, so cocoa butter and wood veneer are inside it. The work is collecting plot geolocation from a chain with many smallholders in it, and that is why the date matters now rather than in December 2026.
Will the partnership agreement make things cheaper?
For some lines and not for others, and Indonesia leaving the general scheme of preferences pushes in the opposite direction. The honest answer is that it depends entirely on your tariff line and nobody can tell you without it. Look it up in your own market's tariff tool for both positions.
Who can be the responsible person for product safety?
An economic operator established in the European Union, which for a direct importer is you. A seller outside the Union needs somebody inside it to take the role. This is what marketplaces started asking sellers for, and an Indonesian producer cannot do it.
Do I register for packaging in every country?
In every member state where you first place packaging on the market. The policy is European and the registers are national, so selling across five markets can mean five registrations. Compliance schemes handle the administration and charge for it.
Which member state is easiest to start with?
Ireland if English matters to you, the Netherlands if you want one authority and one dominant port. Germany is the largest market and devolves control to sixteen states, which is more complicated than it sounds. All of it is the same regulation and the operational reality differs.
Importing into Europe?
Tell us the product and the member state. We will map which of these apply and what we need from the producer before anyone quotes a price.
Sources
- 1Regulation (EU) 2023/1115, consolidated text. EUR-Lex. Checked 3 August 2026.
- 2Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1951. EUR-Lex. Checked 3 August 2026.
- 3Commission presents Council with Indonesia agreements, 29 June 2026. European Commission, DG Trade. Checked 3 August 2026.
- 4Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety. EUR-Lex. Checked 5 August 2026.
- 5Packaging and packaging waste. European Commission, Directorate-General for Environment. Checked 5 August 2026.
- 6Designated border control posts. European Commission, DG Health and Food Safety. Checked 3 August 2026.