eFTI from 2027: what carriers need to prepare

What eFTI is

eFTI is an EU legal framework that allows businesses to provide information about the carriage of goods to enforcement authorities in electronic form. It covers road, rail, air and inland waterway transport.

Regulation 2020/1056 entered into force on 20 August 2020 and has applied since 21 August 2024. The technical details are set out in Commission implementing and delegated acts, including:

• Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1942 on procedures and specifications for authorities' access to information,
• Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/2024 on the common eFTI data set,
• Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2243 on functional requirements for eFTI platforms.

According to the European Commission, the first implementing and delegated acts entered into force in January 2025.

What changes on 9 July 2027

From 9 July 2027, the regulation applies in full. Member State authorities must then accept information made available electronically by economic operators through certified eFTI platforms.

The date itself does not appear in the regulation. Article 5(1) refers to 30 months after the entry into force of the first implementing and delegated acts, and 9 July 2027 is the date the Commission calculates from that provision and publishes.

An important distinction: the obligation applies to authorities, not to carriers. Finland's transport agency Traficom states plainly that using eFTI is voluntary for businesses, and the required information can still be shown on paper or in another electronic form.

What information eFTI covers

eFTI does not create new documents. It covers information already required by the legislation listed in the regulation. According to Traficom, in road transport this includes:

• information from consignment notes in international carriage,
• information required for the carriage of dangerous goods,
• information required for cabotage operations.

eFTI does not replace e-CMR. The electronic consignment note comes from the Additional Protocol to the CMR Convention and governs the contract of carriage between the parties. eFTI governs how data reaches the authorities. A business can use both together or each on its own.

Key terms

• eFTI platform: an ICT system in which transport data is processed, such as a consignment note app (Article 3(10)).
• eFTI service provider: a company that provides an eFTI service to carriers and other operators under a contract (Article 3(13)).
• Economic operator concerned: a carrier, logistics operator or other person responsible for making information available to authorities (Article 3(14)). That's you.
• eFTI gate: a national access point through which a country's authorities connect to the platforms.
• Common data set: the list of data elements that platforms must be able to make available to authorities, defined in Delegated Regulation 2024/2024.
• Unique identification link: a reference that links a transport operation to its data on the platform; the operator gives it to the authority during a check (Article 4(3)).

How a roadside check works under eFTI

Transport data is stored on an eFTI platform, i.e. the system the carrier uses. Instead of going through papers in the cab, the inspector retrieves the data via their country's eFTI gate using the transport identifier.

1. The driver gives the inspector the transport identifier, for example as a code to scan.
2. The authority sends a request via the national eFTI gate to the platform that holds the data.
3. The platform returns the data in machine-readable format. At the authority's request, the information is also shown in human-readable form on the economic operator's device (Article 4(4)).

The regulation also requires the platform to log every processing operation and to keep the original values when data is changed (Article 9(1)). For the carrier, this means the document history must be complete and traceable.

Platform certification: status in October 2026

Under eFTI, information is made available to authorities on the basis of data processed on a certified eFTI platform and, where applicable, by a certified service provider (Article 4(2)). According to the Commission's timeline, the remaining implementing specifications and certification rules are due to be adopted by December 2026.

Before you sign with a provider, ask how far it has got in preparing for certification and for connecting to national gates. A connection to a test gate is not the same as certification.

Common misconceptions

• “Paper will be banned from 2027.” No. The regulation obliges authorities to accept electronic data, not businesses to give up paper.
• “eFTI is the same as e-CMR.” No. e-CMR concerns the consignment note as the document of the contract of carriage; eFTI concerns making information available to authorities.
• “A photo or a PDF on your phone is enough.” Under eFTI, the authority retrieves machine-readable data from a certified platform. A scan is not such a source.
• “A connection to a test gate is certification.” No. Testing with a gate is a preparatory step, and certification follows rules the Commission has yet to adopt.

What the regulation requires of providers

When choosing a tool, it helps to know the requirements an eFTI service provider must meet. Article 10(1) requires, among other things, that data is processed only by authorised users, that it is properly secured and that authorities have immediate access to it free of charge. Article 6 requires the confidentiality of commercial information.

What carriers can do now

eFTI is voluntary, but only a business that holds its transport data in a system, not on paper, will benefit from electronic checks. Start with steps that pay off regardless of the deadline:

1. List the documents your drivers carry: CMR, ADR documents, cabotage documents and others your customers require.
2. Clean up your master data: business partners, addresses, VAT numbers, trucks and trailers. Data from the database flows into documents without retyping.
3. Move your consignment note workflow into an app. An electronic CMR signed by the parties is data ready to share, not a scan of paper.
4. Check your drivers' phones. The document must be shown on a device screen, including where mobile coverage is poor.
5. Ask your provider about its eFTI plan: certification, gates, timelines.
6. Follow official sources. Dates in industry presentations sometimes shift; the Official Journal of the EU is what counts.

eFTI in eCMR One

eCMR One is an electronic consignment note app for road carriers. Integration with eFTI gates is in development. You can already run your shipments in the app today: issue the note, collect the parties' signatures by link and have the document on the driver's phone.

If you are just getting started, create your first note in the free CMR generator, and when you want to run your shipments fully electronically, create an eCMR One account.