Country benchmarking
Commission classification of countries of production into low, standard or high risk under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1093 — it sets diligence depth and check rates, not whether you collect plots or file.
What it means
Country benchmarking assigns every country a risk tier for EUDR commodities. The first list was adopted on 22 May 2025 (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1093): roughly 140 countries low risk, four high risk, and the rest standard as the residual.
The tier drives two things only: how deep due diligence must go (notably whether Articles 10 and 11 can be simplified) and how often competent authorities must check operators sourcing from that origin. Geolocation, the statement and five-year records stay at every tier.
In the regulation
Article 29 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 is the legal basis; 2025/1093 is the implementing act that published the classifications. The Annex enumerates low and high only — standard is everything not named.
A July 2025 European Parliament objection to the methodology was non-binding; the list stands. The Commission committed to revisit benchmarks on updated data (2026), so tiers are something to monitor, not check once.
How ERWAY treats it
The country-risk explorer and the benchmarking / obligation-matrix articles on this site reproduce the Annex logic: complete low and high lists, residual standard, and the 1% / 3% / 9% check floors.
Related terms
- Risk & benchmarkingLow risk (country)
Low risk
Country benchmarking tier covering roughly 140 countries: Article 9 geolocation and the DDS still apply; Articles 10 and 11 may be skipped only under Article 13’s conditions; authorities check at least 1% of operators.
- Risk & benchmarkingStandard risk (country)
Standard risk
The residual country tier: every country not named low or high in the benchmarking Annex. Full Articles 10 and 11 apply; authorities check at least 3% of operators.
- Risk & benchmarkingHigh risk (country)
High risk
Country benchmarking tier under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1093: four countries today, full diligence, and the highest minimum authority check rates (9% of operators and 9% of volume).
- Risk & benchmarking
Simplified due diligence
Article 13 path that switches off risk assessment and mitigation when every plot is low-risk and mixing/circumvention risks are negligible — it never switches off geolocation, the DDS, or Article 12.
Keep reading
Risk & benchmarkingCountry benchmarking: what the risk tiers change, and what they don't
How EUDR country benchmarking works, what Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1093 classified, what simplified due diligence actually removes, and why the Parliament's objection changed nothing.
6 min read
Risk & benchmarkingEUDR country risk classification: which obligations change, tier by tier
A complete tier-by-tier comparison of EUDR obligations: information collection, due diligence systems, risk assessment, mitigation, mixing rules, substantiated concerns and authority check rates.
6 min read