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Fellowes Europe Deforestation Policy & Due Diligence Procedure in Compliance with the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR):

Effective: September 2025


1. PURPOSE:

This document outlines the deforestation policy at Fellowes Europe, and the due diligence procedure in accordance with the Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 (European Union Deforestation Regulation, EUDR), ensuring that relevant commodities and products placed on or exported from the EU market are not linked to deforestation or forest degradation).


1.1. Background

Fellowes sources & manufactures office products which can be made of forest-derived commodities, such as wood, rubber, paper & cardboard. Fellowes does not source raw materials directly from forest areas, and does not conduct any extractive activities.

In addition, Fellowes has a significant presence in the EU market, and is in scope of the EUDR. The EUDR aims to curb the EU’s impact on global deforestation and forest degradation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss due to deforestation.

Fellowes’ EUDR compliance and deforestation assurance activities will be conducted though supply chain engagement and use of voluntary 3rd party certifications.


2. DEFINITIONS:

‘Deforestation-free’ means:

  • that the crop land was not a forest at any time since 31 December 2020;
  • that the relevant products contain, or have been made using, relevant commodities that were produced on land that has not been subject to deforestation after 31 December, 2020;
  • and in the case of relevant products that contain or have been made using wood, that the wood has been harvested from the forest without inducing forest degradation after 31 December, 2020.

3. SCOPE:

This policy applies to all Fellowes European entities, and their supply chain.


4. POLICY:

Fellowes commits to no deforestation - Fellowes commits to sourcing and placing on the market only deforestation-free products.

Where possible, Fellowes aims to source recycled content instead of virgin material, with many products already being made from 100% recycled content.

Through Fellowes’ WhistleBlower Policy, Fellowes operates an anonymous service where concerns can be raised: https://report.syntrio.com/fellowes

Also, where possible, Fellowes will favour the use of voluntary certifications such as FSC® and SFI for the own brand products placed on the market. Fellowes sites have been partaking in these voluntary schemes for years, and are currently members of:

Certification Licenses & certificate Fellowes Sites Link
The Forest Chain of Custody, or FSC® license code FSC-C009687 and certificate code TT-COC-005430 All Fellowes European sites FSC site
The Sustainable Forestry Initiative, or SFI NSF-SFI-CS-C0003987
and NSF-SFI-COC-C0003987
Fellowes Itasca (US) SFI database

The details of the certificates are available in the above links, and the PDF certificates are available upon request.

4.1. EUDR obligations

This due diligence process applies to all products placed on the EU market.

The EUDR covers the following seven commodities as well as a number of derived products: Cattle, Cocoa, Coffee, Oil palm, Rubber, Soya and Wood. Fellowes only supply wood-based and rubber-based products. The list of commodity codes and product groups can be found in Appendix I.

Fellowes commits to performing a structured due diligence process. Relevant products shall not be placed or made available on the market or exported, unless all of the following conditions are fulfilled:

  • they are deforestation-free;
  • they have been produced in accordance with the relevant legislation of the country of production; and
  • they are covered by a due diligence statement which has been submitted to the EU priori to placing the product on the market.

4.2. Due Diligence Process

The due diligence system consists of three key elements: information collection, risk assessment and risk mitigation.

4.2.1 Information Collection

The information and data that must be gathered as part of the due diligence process includes:

  • a detailed description of the relevant products,
  • the country of production,
  • the geolocation of all plots of land where the relevant commodities that the relevant product contains, or has been made using, were produced,
  • information about the supplier(s) and
  • adequately conclusive and verifiable information that the relevant commodities have been produced in accordance with the relevant legislation of the country of production.

Where the supplier is set up in the EUDR portal, Fellowes leverages the existing EUDR declarations to gather the data.

Where the supplier is not set up in the EUDR portal, for example due to being based outside of the EU, Fellowes will gather the necessary information through email exchanges and the collection of relevant evidence documents.

4.2.2. Risk Assessment

Fellowes’ risk assessment aims to establish whether there is a risk of deforestation. Products are only allowed to be placed on the market where the risk assessment reveals no or only a negligible risk that the relevant products are non-compliant.

Fellowes assesses deforestation risks based on a combination of two factors: the country risk as provided by the EU Commission (country benchmarking published in June 2025), and the presence of 3rd party certifications at the supplier sites & products.

Suppliers which have an FSC® or equivalent certification (for example, SFI or PEFC) for their facility, and who supply FSC-certified products will be deemed low risk. Fellowes verifies the FSC or SFI certificates by requesting the certificates and checking the validity directly on the websites of FSC or SFI. In case of doubts, for example due to the difference in company names (e.g. parent company and subsidiary), Fellowes can reach out directly to the applicable certification body to confirm the scope of the FSC/SFI/PFEC certificate.

Fellowes Risk Assessment Supplier has 3rd party certification Supplier does not have 3rd party certification
EUDR Country risk - low Low Low
EDUR Country risk – medium Low Medium

Fellowes does not source products from high-risk countries (as per the EUDR benchmarking).

However, if any concern is raised by a stakeholder (for example, through the whistleblower line) or any information arises, a precautionary principle will be adopted, and the supplier will be considered medium risk while the situation is further investigated.

Where the risk assessment does not result in low or negligible risk, Fellowes will adopt risk mitigation measures set out in Article 11 of the EUDR before placing the products on the market.

4.2.3. Risk Mitigation

Fellowes follows a comprehensive supplier on-site audit process that scrutinizes a broad spectrum of a suppliers’ business practices — from manufacturing procedures to facilities security, social accountability, and environmental sustainability. The audits result in a graded score that determines whether Fellowes will further engage with that supplier:

  • Green status suppliers require audits every two years
  • Amber status suppliers require audits every year.
  • Anyone scoring under 50% is red listed.

For all suppliers, regardless of the risk level, Fellowes has issued a Supplier Code of Conduct which needs to be signed by all suppliers. Fellowes tracks completion of the signatures.

4.3. Information Sharing

The NT-TRACES portal will be the main vehicle for sharing information. Fellowes will have a Due Diligence Statement (DDS) for each product group placed on the market. Fellowes will include the DDS number, or the reason for EUDR exemption, in the invoices supplied to our customers. This is the primary means of information sharing.


5. REVIEW:

To ensure the proper implementation of the risk assessment and risk mitigation measures, Fellowes will review the due diligence system at least once a year and whenever there is a significant change to the supplier situations and/or the risk classifications.


6. LINKS:

The following documents are cross-referenced:

  • Fellowes EUDR Protocol
  • Fellowes Supplier Code of Conduct
  • Fellowes Sustainability Policy
  • Fellowes Whistleblower Policy

Appendix I

This is the list of commodity codes and product groups in scope of the EUDR.

Commodity code Commodity description Product groups
4016100090 Cellular rubber articles Mousepads which contain natural rubber
4819100000 Cartons, boxes and cases, of corrugated paper or paperboard Storage & Organisation products: archive & storage boxes, magazine files, transfer files
4819600000 Office paperboard storage items Storage & Organisation products: archive & storage boxes, magazine files, transfer files
4820300000 Binders (other than book covers), folders and file covers, of paper or paperboard Paper-based binding covers
9403609000 Other wooden furniture Desk tops made from wood

Last update: Aug 2025