Brussels, 13 July 2026 - The European Commission today adopted the Delegated Act amending the product scope of Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 on deforestation-free products (EUDR), formally excluding hides, skins and leather. The Delegated Act will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union in mid-September, at which point the amended scope becomes official.
COTANCE - Euroleather welcomes this decision as the formal recognition of a position it has held, and defended with evidence, since the regulation's inception.
A decision grounded in science
The exclusion of hides, skins and leather reflects a fundamental structural reality: raw hides account for just 1.5% of a bovine's total value at the abattoir, as confirmed by the 2026 UNIDO Guidelines for Assessing the Environmental Footprint of Leather. The independent academic study commissioned by COTANCE and UNIC, conducted by the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies at the University of Pisa and drawing on over 94 million data records, found no scientific evidence linking leather to deforestation - a finding independently reinforced by research from Montana State University.
The Commission's decision also avoids a regulatory incoherence that would have penalised European producers: under the previous scope, goods produced with EU leather would have been subject to EUDR compliance requirements while those produced with non-EU leather would not, placing European tanneries at a direct competitive disadvantage and putting at risk tens of thousands of rural jobs across the continent.
A collective achievement
This outcome is the result of two years of sustained, evidence-based engagement by COTANCE, its national member associations, and a united global leather industry - from the United States to Australia, Africa and New Zealand - working together under the International Council of Tanners to make the scientific case to EU institutions.
"Leather's confirmed exclusion from the EUDR is a satisfaction for the whole sector, as it follows what the Commission already proposed in May," - said Manuel Rios, President of COTANCE. "Now it is time to keep working to showcase leather's sustainability credentials."
"Today's Commission decision is a step in the right direction in ensuring that leather is recognised for what it truly is: a durable material and a by-product of the meat and dairy industries. The European leather industry is firmly committed to its existing traceability schemes, including those developed by the Leather Traceability Cluster Alliance," - said Edoardo De Paola, Secretary General of COTANCE.
The Delegated Act foresees a review of leather's inclusion in the EUDR scope in 2030. COTANCE will approach that review with an even stronger evidence base than the one that defined its engagement throughout this process.