Is Indonesian teak legal? EUDR, SVLK, FLEGT and FSC explained

What is the EUDR, and when does it apply?

The EUDR is Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 on deforestation-free products. It applies from 30 December 2026 to large and medium businesses and from 30 June 2027 to micro and small ones, with an exception for some furniture explained below.

It replaces the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR, Regulation 995/2010), which is repealed on 30 December 2026. The EUTR only required timber to be legal. Under Article 3 of the EUDR, a product can be sold in or exported from the EU only if it meets three conditions at once:

• Deforestation-free: the timber does not come from land deforested after 31 December 2020, and harvesting it has not degraded the forest since that date.
• Legal: it was produced under the laws of the country of production, which include land rights, forestry rules, labour rights and tax, among others.
• Declared: it is covered by a due diligence statement, or by a simplified declaration for certain small primary producers.

The dates have already moved twice: the regulation was amended in December 2024 and again in December 2025. Plenty of pages still quote older timetables, so check when anything you read was written. The dates in this guide come from the September 2026 consolidated text on EUR-Lex and the European Commission's EUDR page.

Is teak furniture covered by the EUDR?

Yes. Annex I of the regulation lists wooden seats and wooden furniture, so a teak chair, bar stool, table or bench is in scope. These are the lines that matter for furniture:

Every line excludes used and second-hand products. Each piece's exact code comes from its customs classification, so ask your supplier for the HS code of every item. Two details matter for hospitality buyers:

• Rattan and bamboo are out. A note to Annex I says the regulation does not apply to wood products to the extent that they are made of rattan, bamboo or other woody materials. In a teak and rattan armchair, the teak is covered and the rattan is not.
• Tables get no extra time for small businesses. Micro and small businesses established as such by 31 December 2024 start on 30 June 2027, except for products the EUTR already covered (Article 38(3)). Wooden furniture under heading 9403 was in the EUTR; seats under 9401 were not. For a small business, a teak table comes in on 30 December 2026 and a teak chair on 30 June 2027.

Who has to file the due diligence statement?

The operator: the business that first places the furniture on the EU market. When the maker is outside the EU, the first person established in the EU who makes it available is treated as the operator (Article 7).

That is usually the importer. Take care if your hotel or restaurant imports straight from Indonesia: the regulation counts use in your own business as a commercial activity (Article 2, point 19), so a company importing furniture to fit out its own premises is an operator too. Check with your customs or legal adviser how this applies to each import.

Before selling or using the furniture, the operator gathers the information in Article 9, assesses the risk and, unless it is zero or negligible, reduces it. For timber, that information includes:

• The common and scientific name of the species: teak, Tectona grandis.
• The country of production and the geolocation of every plot the timber was harvested from, as latitude and longitude to at least six decimal places. Plots over 4 hectares need a full polygon.
• The date or period of harvest.
• Verifiable evidence that the timber is legal and deforestation-free.

The operator then files the statement in the EU information system, keeps it for five years and passes its reference number to the buyer (Article 4(7)). Businesses that sell the product on after the operator keep their supplier's details and those numbers for at least five years (Article 5). If you buy from an EU importer, that reference number is what you ask for and file.

What is SVLK, and how does it relate to FLEGT?

SVLK (Sistem Verifikasi Legalitas Kayu) is Indonesia's mandatory system for verifying that timber complies with Indonesian law from its source to its sale. It is the basis of the FLEGT licences that let that timber into the EU.

According to Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry, the country has assured timber legality through this system since 2012, supported by the SILK information platform. The V-Legal document has been required for exports since 1 January 2013.

FLEGT is the EU's action plan against illegal logging. The EU and Indonesia signed a Voluntary Partnership Agreement, in force since 1 May 2014, and Indonesian FLEGT licences have applied since 15 November 2016 (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1387). The licensed products include seats with wooden frames and wooden furniture. In practice a buyer sees two things: the SVLK certificate of each company in the chain and, with each shipment to the EU, the V-Legal document that serves as the FLEGT licence.

Is a FLEGT licence or an FSC certificate enough for the EUDR?

No. Both help, but neither replaces the due diligence statement, because neither proves on its own that the plot was not deforested or degraded after 2020.

Article 10(3) says wood products covered by a valid FLEGT licence are deemed to comply with Article 3(b): legality. It says nothing about Article 3(a), deforestation-free, and does not waive the statement. With FLEGT-licensed teak, the operator still needs the plot geolocation and evidence of no deforestation or degradation.

FSC is a voluntary certification of forest management and chain of custody: every company that buys and sells the timber with an FSC claim must hold its own certificate, and the invoice carries the claim and the certificate code. FSC Spain itself warns that certification does not automatically exempt companies from their EUDR obligations. The regulation lets operators use information from certification schemes as supporting evidence in their risk assessment (Article 10(2)(n)), as long as it meets the information requirements of Article 9.

What documents should you ask your teak furniture supplier for?

Ask for evidence, not assurances. Before you place the order, agree who will be the importer and what you will receive with each shipment:

1. Who imports: which company is the importer of record in the EU and therefore files the due diligence statement.
2. The reference number of the statement for each shipment, if you are not the importer.
3. The HS code of every piece, so you know which Annex I line applies.
4. The V-Legal document or FLEGT licence for the shipment, and the factory's SVLK certificate.
5. If you will be the operator: the species, the country, the geolocation of the source plots and the harvest dates.
6. If you order FSC teak: the chain-of-custody certificate code on the invoice.

It is worth writing these documents into the quote or the contract, alongside lead times. If you order from a maker such as Kadek, ask when you request the quote: whether the factories hold SVLK certificates, whether each shipment travels with a FLEGT licence, whether FSC teak is available, and who will act as importer into the EU.

To go further, the guide to teak prices and grades covers the timber itself, and the guide to buying furniture from Indonesia covers ordering and shipping from the factory. To see actual pieces, here is all the teak furniture in the collection.