EU electronic freight transport information (eFTI)

Who it applies to

Operators moving goods within the European Union, including carriers, freight forwarders, logistics service providers and shippers, and the national authorities that inspect freight. Regulation (EU) 2020/1056 on electronic freight transport information (eFTI) covers road, rail, inland waterway and air transport.

What it requires, in plain terms

• Authorities must accept electronic information. When an operator shares regulatory freight information electronically through a certified eFTI platform, member state authorities must accept it instead of paper.
• Operators may choose. The regulation obliges authorities to accept electronic information; it does not oblige operators to stop using paper. In practice, electronic exchange becomes the easier route.
• Certified platforms and service providers. Information is shared through eFTI platforms and service providers certified against common functional requirements set by implementing acts.
• A common data set. The information is structured according to a common eFTI data set, so the same data can be read by authorities in any member state.

Key dates

As of November 2026:

What it means for your systems

• Freight data held as scanned CMRs, delivery notes and emails has to become structured data before it can be shared electronically.
• The same structured records that feed eFTI also feed invoicing, proof-of-delivery matching and shipment tracking.
• Operators will connect to one or more certified eFTI platforms, so the TMS or ERP needs a clean way to publish the data set.

Official sources

• European Commission: eFTI Regulation (opens in a new tab)
• European Commission: towards paperless freight transport (January 2025) (opens in a new tab)
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1942 (EUR-Lex) (opens in a new tab)

How this connects to our work

Document intelligence reads bills of lading, delivery notes and customs paperwork into structured records in the TMS or ERP, which is the data an eFTI platform needs. See also Logistics and distribution.