eFTI (Regulation (EU) 2020/1056): what it requires and what it doesn't

The most common misunderstanding

You often hear that ‘the European Union already requires transport to go digital’ or that ‘the eCMR is mandatory under EU law’. Neither statement is correct when it comes to the eFTI Regulation. That text does not force companies to give up paper, nor does it make the electronic consignment note mandatory.

What Regulation (EU) 2020/1056 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2020 on electronic freight transport information (CELEX 32020R1056) does is guarantee a right: the right to exchange regulatory transport information with public authorities in electronic form. The obligation falls on the authorities, not on the operator.

What eFTI actually requires

eFTI (short for electronic Freight Transport Information) has applied since 21 August 2024. Its key points:

• It obliges the competent authorities to accept regulatory transport information in electronic form when it is made available through a certified eFTI platform.
• It imposes no new information requirements: it covers the data the rules already require, and creates no additional documents or fields.
• It does not abolish paper: a company can keep presenting the information on paper if it prefers.
• If the operator decides to provide the information to an authority electronically, it must do so through certified eFTI platforms and eFTI service providers.

The authorities’ obligation to accept that information did not start on 21 August 2024. Article 5 of the Regulation sets it at 30 months after the entry into force of the first of the delegated and implementing acts referred to in Articles 7 and 8. Those acts were adopted in 2024: Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/2024 of 26 July 2024, establishing the eFTI common data set and data subsets, and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1942 of 5 July 2024, on the procedures for authorities to access that information. They were published in the Official Journal of the EU on 20 December 2024 and entered into force on 9 January 2025, so authorities must accept eFTI information from 9 July 2027. The functional requirements for eFTI platforms followed in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2243 of 6 November 2025.

Voluntary for you, mandatory for the authorities

This is the nuance that sums up the whole Regulation. eFTI turns the usual burden around: instead of forcing companies to go digital, it obliges the authorities to be ready to receive digital information. The company gains a right, not a burden.

As from 30 months after the date of entry into force of the first of the delegated and implementing acts referred to in Articles 7 and 8, competent authorities shall accept regulatory information made available electronically by the economic operators concerned in accordance with Article 4 […].Regulation (EU) 2020/1056, Article 5(1)

In practice, this means no company is in breach of eFTI for still using paper. But it also means that anyone who opts for electronic information will have, once the framework is fully operational, a recognised and uniform channel for dealing with the authorities of any Member State.

eFTI vs DeCA: don't mix them up

They are often confused because both talk about ‘electronic transport information’, but they are different things. DeCA is a Spanish obligation for companies in domestic transport; eFTI is a European framework that places obligations on authorities. We cover it in detail in DeCA vs eCMR vs eFTI, but here is the summary:

Put another way: DeCA tells you that your domestic control document in Spain must be electronic; eFTI tells you that, if you wish, you can deal with EU authorities electronically and that they must accept it. Neither repeals the other, but they meet at one point: under the ninth section of Spain’s Resolution of 5 June 2026, if the control document data are managed and presented using the scheme of the eFTI Regulation and its implementing acts, the DeCA does not have to be presented in the form that resolution describes.

Why it pays to get ahead

The fact that eFTI is voluntary for companies does not make it irrelevant. Getting ahead brings clear competitive advantages:

• Interoperability: working with structured information now brings you closer to a uniform format recognised by the authorities of different Member States.
• Less friction at inspections: presenting the data electronically means less waiting and fewer errors than paper documents.
• Synergy with existing obligations: if you are digitalising your domestic documents in Spain for DeCA anyway, extending the same information to the European electronic level takes little extra effort.
• Readiness for the set timeline: from 9 July 2027 authorities must accept information made available through certified platforms, and those already working with electronic data will have a head start.