Is your company ready for December 30th?

The EUDR covers several commodities, wood fibre being one of them. Under the Regulation, any operator or trader processing these commodities must be able to prove that their products which are placed for sale on the EU market or exported from the EU do not originate from deforested land or have contributed to forest degradation. Most Pulp, Paper, and Fibre mills have the burden to verify their supply chain for this regulation.

At the core of the regulation is the concept of the Due Diligence Statement (DDS), and every step in the supply chain starting from the forest harvesting requires proof of compliance. This is achieved by registering DDSs in the EU’s information system called TRACES for all production batches of semi-finished and finished goods, and the resulting DDS Reference Numbers (DDRN) are passed along to the next operator or trader so that they can also verify compliance.

Now is the time to act 

The original deadline for compliance was at the end of 2024, but it was postponed to the end of 2025. This means that on 30 December 2025, all affected production mills must have the necessary systems working and ready to prove EUDR compliance. Only mills which use 100% recycled fibre or bamboo are excluded. All pulp, paper, board, tissue, and non-woven mills who use any component of virgin fibre in their production are affected - which is hundreds of mills across the EU and hundreds more who import into the EU. 

Yet, many paper mills are woefully behind schedule in preparation, and the non-negotiable deadline is coming soon. As the EUDR will not allow sales within the EU or export of non-compliant goods, the worst-case scenario is that produced goods are not sellable at the end of December. While it’s theoretically possible to handle the DDS registrations manually in TRACES, in practice this would be an overwhelming amount of work for most medium-to-large production mills to manage and keep track of the hundreds of DDRNs from inbound fibre suppliers and from the mill’s own production. When goods are dispatched, it’s required to pass along these DDRNs to the customer typically by electronic means. An automated system to handle the necessary integration is therefore really needed, and the implementation of any system takes time.

Building an in-house system can be time and cost consuming

Many companies have considered trying to develop in-house solutions for complying with EUDR. In-house software development cycles, though, are well known for requiring a lot of time and effort. Budgets can quickly overrun especially if external consultants are brought onboard. There is real risk that despite the best of efforts, the solution will still not be up and running when it is required.

Fortunately, there is an answer to a mill’s prayers

Tietoevry’s TIPS is a leading Manufacturing Execution System (MES) for the pulp, paper, and fibre industries. Our new EUDR module can be simply added to a mill’s IT landscape and configured to handle different methodologies of customer compliance. 

For our existing TIPS customers, it’s mostly plug-and-play with minimal changes needed to existing TIPS modules. For mills with other MES systems, our EUDR module can still handle the job since all the data integration is done via standard APIs. For the fibre receipts and dispatch data, the system is flexible to integrate with any ERP. We also have some configurations to integrate with 3rd party EUDR compliance systems.

TIPS EUDR module ensures full compliance by automating data transfer between fibre suppliers, MES, EU TRACES, and the ERP which is finally responsible to pass the DDRNs to the end customer. Our new module handles the rough systematic traceability of the incoming DDRNs for fibre receipts through to the production batches of semi-finished and finished goods. 

One more important aspect is managing exceptions when something goes wrong. On the day-to-day life at the mill, the EUDR module runs silently under the hood handling all the necessary integration, but there can be big consequences when data doesn’t process as it should! When errors occur in the integration or internal logic, the EUDR module alerts the key users by email who can then go into the system to troubleshoot the problems using our audit screens. These screens are also helpful to look up historical data such as the DDS Reference Numbers linked to a jumbo, unit or delivery.

Why TIPS EUDR?

The TIPS EUDR module is already running live for one of our customers, and we are now onboarding other customers. Our solution will ensure that your mill has enough time for integration, ramp-up and staff training before the December deadline and will meet the new regulation from day one.

Our Tietoevry Pulp, Paper, and Fibre division already understands the business needs and processes at the mill. Unlike many other EUDR software packages that are generalized for different industries, TIPS EUDR focuses on the specific aspects for the pulp and paper industry.

TIPS EUDR module is built with our latest SaaS-style development architecture and works with Oracle or SQL Server. As a standard package, it will evolve and grow based on customer demands and any changes coming from the EU so you can be assured of continuous development and a long lifecycle. 

Next steps

The clock is ticking but there is still time. We would love the opportunity to discuss how our TIPS solution can ensure your mill’s EUDR compliance with the minimum of hassle and cost. Our team is ready to answer any questions and explore how we can meet your specific needs to get you up-and-running. For more info, just get in touch and let’s talk!