Follow-Up on the Simplification of Environmental Legislation

On 7 May 2026, EUSTAFOR submitted an ex-post contribution to the European Commission’s process on the Simplification of administrative burdens in environmental legislation, following up on its initial input of 10 September 2025. The new contribution reflects on two recent outputs of particular relevance to forestry: the Environmental Omnibus package of 10 December 2025 (including COM(2025) 984 on speeding up environmental assessments) and the Commission Guidance on Articles 5 and 9 of the Birds Directive (C(2026) 2274 final, approved 31 March 2026).

EUSTAFOR welcomes elements of both documents that partially address concerns raised by state forest managers, while underlining that important clarifications are still needed and that the bulk of the systemic issues remain unresolved.

Provisions welcomed, with scope for further clarification:

• The Birds Directive guidance confirms that Article 5 does not entail a logging ban during the breeding and rearing season, recognises retention forestry as part of sustainable forest management, and draws on practical national examples.
• Article 8 of COM(2025) 984 introduces a useful clarification of “deliberateness”, but should explicitly cover forest management plans approved by competent authorities, and extend to the occasional damage to nests, eggs, and breeding or resting sites.
• The 2026 stress-testing of the Birds and Habitats Directives should examine whether targeted legislative clarifications, particularly of the notion of “deliberateness”, would deliver greater legal certainty than guidance alone.

What remains unaddressed:

• The systemic burden generated by the parallel application of NRR, LULUCF, RED, the EU Taxonomy, CSRD, and the structural obligations of the Habitats Directive. EUSTAFOR reiterates its call for a clear mapping of EU and national forest-related legislation and for integration under the once-only principle.
• The Nature Restoration Regulation, where missing baseline data and the extension of Article 4 obligations to habitats outside Natura 2000 risk unmanageable complexity ahead of the mid-2026 deadline for National Restoration Plans.
• The Nature Directives’ reporting methodologies, which can give an overly negative picture of habitats, and the inability of the Natura 2000 network to keep pace with climate-driven shifts in species ranges. Both should be on the agenda of the 2026 stress-testing.

EUSTAFOR urges the Commission to preserve the forestry-specific improvements already on the table, expand Article 8 of COM(2025) 984 to cover forest management plans, and move from procedural improvements to structural simplification in the next phases of the process.

Read the full contribution: EUSTAFOR Contribution on the Simplification of Administrative Burdens in Environmental Legislation (PDF)