European due diligence legislation aims to make global supply chains more sustainable by tackling deforestation and human rights abuses. For coffee producers in Ethiopia, closing legal and technical gaps is key to accessing the EU market under new EUDR requirements.
FIT for FAIR – a flagship project of the Team Europe Initiative – supports partner countries in establishing favourable legal and political conditions. By fostering multi-stakeholder participation and providing technical support, the initiative helps turn regulatory requirements into opportunities for sustainable development.
Ethiopia: From Analysis to Action
In Ethiopia, FIT for FAIR has been working with the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority (ECTA) since July 2024. Over this period, three national task force meetings brought together ministries, coffee cooperatives, associations, exporters, civil society, and international partners to review the legal, environmental, institutional, and human rights frameworks relevant to the coffee sector. These sessions produced status quo and gap analyses, which guided the formulation of detailed policy recommendations.
Key Policy Recommendations
The final recommendations, presented and validated during a closing workshop on 28 August 2025 in Addis Ababa with around 50 participants, cover four main areas:
- Traceability & Digital Solutions: developing a national guideline on traceability, and expanding an existing database by integrating geolocation, yield, and export data into a central system.
- Environmental Due Diligence: aligning national definitions of forest vs agricultural land with EUDR terminology, incorporating safeguards against forest conversion, and strengthening enforcement of environmental laws.
- Legal & Institutional: formalising inter-ministerial agreements, and introducing mechanisms to enable public interest litigation.
- Human & Social Rights: taking actions to prevent abuse and reduce informality in accordance with international agreements, the creation of a child labour manual, mandatory birth registration, and emphasising women’s rights.
Next Steps: Getting to Implementation
At the validation workshop, Dr. Adugna Debela, Director General of ECTA, underlined the importance of the inclusive process and announced that the recommendations will be submitted to Ethiopia’s newly established National Coffee Platform, to ensure they inform political decision-making.
Ethiopia now has a stakeholder-driven roadmap to strengthen its coffee sector, meet the requirements of the EUDR, and promote sustainable, fair production practices. The transition from dialogue to implementation is underway.
