eFTI and e-CMR explained: what each is and how they differ

eFTI, electronic freight transport information, is the framework set up by Regulation (EU) 2020/1056 under which the information that certain EU and national rules require operators to make available to prove compliance can reach the competent authorities electronically, through certified IT platforms. From 9 July 2027 the competent authorities of every Member State must accept that information when an operator makes it available in this way. The Regulation does not oblige operators to make the information available electronically. e-CMR is a different instrument: the electronic form of the consignment note that confirms an international road carriage contract under the CMR Convention, made possible by an Additional Protocol of 2008 to that Convention. The two meet because, in the European Commission’s own description, eFTI covers not transport documents as such but the information from them.

Status as at 23 October 2026. Read on that day: Regulation (EU) 2020/1056 in its Official Journal text and its consolidated text of 9 January 2025; the four Commission acts adopted under it; the Commission’s eFTI page, last modified on 29 April 2026, its news of 9 January 2025 and its report COM(2025) 32; the Commission’s Have your say portal; a presentation by the Commission’s eFTI team leader of 21 January 2026 and slides from a Commission webinar of 23 June 2025; the status page of the e-CMR Protocol in the UN Treaty Collection; and the other acts named below.

What eFTI is

Article 1 states the subject of the Regulation: it “establishes a legal framework for the electronic communication of regulatory information between the economic operators concerned and competent authorities in relation to the transport of goods on the territory of the Union”. For that purpose it “lays down the conditions based on which competent authorities are required to accept regulatory information when that information is made available electronically by the economic operators concerned”, and it lays down rules on the services that make such information available.

The definitions in Article 3 carry the rest:

• Regulatory information is information, whether or not presented in the form of a document, related to the transport of goods in the territory of the Union, including goods in transit, which an operator has to make available under the provisions listed in Article 2(1) in order to prove compliance (Article 3(1)).
• eFTI “means a set of data elements that are processed by electronic means for the purpose of exchanging regulatory information among the economic operators concerned and between the economic operators concerned and competent authorities” (Article 3(4)).
• An eFTI platform is a solution based on information and communication technology, “such as an operating system, an operating environment, or a database, intended to be used for the processing of eFTI” (Article 3(10)); an eFTI service provider provides an eFTI service to operators on the basis of a contract (Article 3(13)).
• The economic operator concerned is a transport or logistics operator, or any other natural or legal person, responsible for making regulatory information available to competent authorities (Article 3(14)); a competent authority is a public authority, agency or other body competent to perform tasks under the acts in Article 2(1) (Article 3(3)).

The Regulation was adopted on 15 July 2020 and, in the Commission’s words, “entered into force on 20 August 2020”. It has applied from 21 August 2024 (Article 18(2)), and some of its articles from its entry into force (Article 18(3)).

Which information, which modes

Article 2(1)(a) lists the EU information requirements in scope:

• Article 6(1) of Council Regulation No 11 of 1960: the transport document required for each consignment of goods, with among other details the name and address of the consignor, the nature and weight of the goods, the place and date of acceptance and the place of delivery;
• Article 3 of Council Directive 92/106/EEC: the transport document for combined transport, which also specifies the loading and unloading stations or ports of the rail, inland waterway or sea leg;
• Article 8(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009: the evidence a non-resident haulier must produce of the preceding international carriage and of each cabotage operation;
• the waste shipment requirements, now in Articles 9(2), 16(1) and 18(4) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1157;
• Chapter 5.4 of Part 5 of the dangerous goods rules for road (ADR), rail (RID) and inland waterways (ADN), as referred to in Directive 2008/68/EC.

Article 2(1)(b) adds requirements laid down in Commission acts listed in Part A of Annex I; as adopted in 2020, Part A lists one, the aviation security rules of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1998. Article 2(1)(c) adds the provisions of national law listed in Part B, which Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/2025 filled in from the Member States’ notifications. The Commission’s report of 5 February 2025 counted “182 pieces of EU and national legislation in total” then in scope, with an equal number of eFTI data subsets.

The Commission’s eFTI page says the shift “will apply to road, rail, inland waterway, and air transport”. Recital 5 says the possibility of making the information available electronically “should apply to all regulatory information and to all transport modes”.

Recital 7 limits the reach. The Regulation “should not impose any additional regulatory information or language requirements”, and it should be without prejudice “to the provisions referring to controls by customs offices” and to the reporting obligations in Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, the Union Customs Code, and in Regulation (EU) 2019/1239. From 21 September 2027 the Union Customs Code is Regulation (EU) 2026/2108, which repeals Regulation (EU) No 952/2013. The scope slide of the Commission’s presentation of 21 January 2026 lists among what eFTI does not cover “No legal requirements beyond transport or for crossing EU borders (e.g. taxation, eInvoicing, or statistical, customs or maritime, reporting requirements)”. The customs transit declaration and its electronic messages are covered in the T1 transit document and NCTS explained.

Who has to do what

Article 5 is addressed to the authorities. From the date it sets in paragraph 1, “competent authorities shall accept regulatory information made available electronically by the economic operators concerned in accordance with Article 4”. Where the information includes an official validation, such as a stamp or certificate, the authority concerned provides that validation electronically (Article 5(3)), and Member States take measures to enable all their competent authorities to access and process the information (Article 5(4)).

Article 4 is addressed to the operators, and sets conditions for when they take the electronic route. Article 4(2) reads: “Where the economic operators concerned make regulatory information available electronically to a competent authority, they shall do so on the basis of data processed on a certified eFTI platform and, if applicable, by a certified eFTI service provider.” The information is made available in machine-readable format through an authenticated and secure connection to the platform’s data source, and the operator communicates the unique electronic identifying link that enables the authority to identify the information related to the shipment (Article 4(3)). On request it is also made available in human-readable format, “on the spot, on the screen of an electronic device owned by the economic operator concerned” (Article 4(4)). For checks in physical presence, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1942 has the link communicated in a machine-readable format “such as a bar code or QR code, displayed on the screen of an electronic handheld device such as a mobile phone or tablet, or printed on paper” (recital 13). Information made available by means of a certified eFTI platform is accompanied by a certification mark (Article 12(3)).

The Regulation does not oblige operators to make the information available electronically. Recital 7 states that while it “is intended to allow the compliance with regulatory information requirements by electronic means rather than by means of paper documents, it is without prejudice to the possibility for the economic operators concerned to present that information in paper format, as provided for in the relevant provisions of Union legal acts or national law”. An obligation is left to a later review: no later than 21 February 2029 the Commission must evaluate the Regulation and assess possible initiatives towards “establishing the obligation for economic operators to make available electronically regulatory information to competent authorities” (Article 16(1)). The Commission’s eFTI team leader, Lia Potec, put the two sides in one slide on 21 January 2026: “Obligation for authorities to accept, uniformly, information provided electronically by operators” and “Obligation for operators to use eFTI certified platforms, if opting to present information electronically”.

Two recitals add to this. Recital 8 keeps operators responsible for providing the information in human-readable format whenever authorities specifically request it, so that the authorities can perform their duties “in situations where access to an eFTI platform is not available”. Recital 17 says that, notwithstanding the obligation for all competent authorities to accept information made available through a certified eFTI platform, “the use of other ICT systems should remain possible if a Member State so chooses”.

9 July 2027: where the date comes from

Article 5(1) does not give a calendar date. It reads: “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, including where such regulatory information is requested by competent authorities as additional information.”

The first acts under Articles 7 and 8, Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/2024 and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1942, were published in the Official Journal on 20 December 2024 and entered into force on 9 January 2025. Thirty months from 9 January 2025 is 9 July 2027, by our arithmetic. The Commission gives the same date and the same calculation in its report COM(2025) 32 of 5 February 2025: “this date was calculated as 30 months after the date of entry into force of the first delegated and implementing acts adopted under Articles 7 and 8 of the Regulation. These latter acts entered into force on 9 January 2025.” Its eFTI page lists under 9 July 2027: “The eFTI Regulation will apply in full. Member State authorities must accept information shared electronically by operators via certified eFTI platforms.”

The words “apply in full” refer to this one obligation. The same report states that most provisions applied from the Regulation’s entry into force or from 21 August 2024, while “the requirement for Member State authorities to accept information presented for control electronically will start applying only as of 9 July 2027”. The Commission’s page also has an earlier step. Under “As of January 2026” it says that “eFTI platforms and service providers can start preparing for operations” and that “Member States authorities may start accepting data stored on certified eFTI platforms for inspection”.

Waste shipments run ahead. Regulation (EU) 2024/1157 on shipments of waste, of 11 April 2024, amended Regulation 2020/1056 and inserted Article 5(1a): “By way of derogation from paragraph 1, competent authorities shall accept regulatory information, including additional information, pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2024/1157 as from 21 May 2026.”

The acts adopted so far

The Commission’s news of 9 January 2025 confirms the January date: “the first eFTI implementing and delegated acts entered into force today”. The date for Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2243 is our arithmetic from its publication. The acts under Articles 7, 8 and 9(2) came after the deadlines the Regulation set for them, 21 February 2023 for the first two and 21 August 2023 for the third. For the data set act the Commission’s report gives the reason as “mainly due to the complexity of the data mapping and modelling activities”.

What is still missing

Status as at 23 October 2026. Three sets of rules that the Regulation provides for on platforms and service providers had not been adopted on that date.

• Certification of eFTI platforms (delegated act, Article 12(5)). On 21 October 2026 the Commission published on its Have your say portal a draft delegated regulation “laying down rules for the certification of eFTI platforms and the use of the certification mark” (Ares(2026)9917995), open for feedback until 18 November 2026. The draft states: “This draft has not been adopted or endorsed by the European Commission.” Its explanatory memorandum says it would establish “certification profiles to accommodate different operational capabilities and business models”.
• Requirements for eFTI service providers (implementing act, Article 10(2)). The portal lists the initiative at planning stage, with no draft published. Article 10(2) had set 21 August 2023 for the first such act.
• Certification of eFTI service providers (delegated act, Article 13(3)). Also at planning stage, with no draft published.

Once the Commission adopts a delegated act, it enters into force only if neither the European Parliament nor the Council objects within two months of notification, a period either of them can extend by two months (Article 14(6)).

The target dates have moved. The Commission’s news of 9 January 2025 said: “By September 2025: The Commission plans to adopt the remaining eFTI implementing specifications.” Its report of 5 February 2025 said the certification acts were “expected to be adopted by Commission in the second quarter of 2025”. Its eFTI page, last modified on 29 April 2026, now lists under “By December 2026”: “The Commission plans to adopt the remaining eFTI implementing specifications.” The records of the EU Publications Office, queried on 23 October 2026, listed no act with eFTI in its title adopted after Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2243.

A further implementing act is at planning stage. An initiative on new identifiers in the eFTI registry of identifiers, entered on the portal on 19 October 2026 with adoption planned for the first quarter of 2027, “would add the country of loading and the country of unloading to the small set of freight data that authorities can already consult using a vehicle’s registration plate, letting them see the nature of an operation before deciding to stop it”, in the words of its summary.

e-CMR: the electronic consignment note

The Additional Protocol to the CMR Convention concerning the Electronic Consignment Note was done at Geneva on 20 February 2008 and entered into force on 5 June 2011. Its preamble gives its purpose: to facilitate “the optional making out of the consignment note by means of procedures used for the electronic recording and handling of data”. An electronic consignment note that complies with the Protocol “shall be considered to be equivalent to the consignment note referred to in the Convention and shall therefore have the same evidentiary value and produce the same effects as that consignment note” (Article 2(2)). The Protocol’s requirements, from authentication to the agreed procedures, are set out in the CMR consignment note and e-CMR explained.

As at 23 October 2026 the UN Treaty Collection lists 8 signatories and 42 parties. By our count of that list, 22 of the 27 EU Member States are parties. Belgium signed on 27 May 2008 and is listed with no ratification; Croatia, Cyprus, Ireland and Malta are not listed.

An e-CMR belongs to the contract of carriage. Article 1 of the Protocol defines it as a consignment note “issued by electronic communication by the carrier, the sender or any other party interested in the performance of a contract of carriage to which the Convention applies”. eFTI concerns something else: the information that the authorities may require under the rules in Article 2(1) of Regulation 2020/1056, and the way it reaches them.

Where e-CMR and eFTI meet

The Commission’s slide on the scope of eFTI, shown on 21 January 2026, lists as not covered: “Not transport documents as such (but the information from transport documents - consignment notes, waybills)”. Recital 6 of the Regulation names the CMR. It says the authorities’ duty to accept information made available electronically should also apply where provisions in scope “require information that is also referred to in relevant international conventions such as the conventions governing the international contracts of carriage in the different transport modes”, and the CMR is the first convention it gives as an example. Part B of Annex I, as filled in by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/2025, brings the CMR in through national law for some Member States: Poland’s entry names a provision of its Act of 6 September 2001 on road transport “enabling compliance checks with Article 6(1) of CMR Convention”, and Romania’s entry lists Article 6(1) of the CMR Convention itself.

Cabotage evidence appears in both sets of texts. Article 8(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009 lists the seven details of evidence required for each operation, and the Commission’s cabotage Q&A says: “These details are contained in the consignment note or bill of lading, normally in the CMR format.” Since 21 February 2022, Article 8(4a) has allowed that evidence to be “presented or transmitted electronically, using a revisable structured format which can be used directly for storage and processing by computers, such as an electronic consignment note (e-CMR)” under the 2008 Protocol. The same Article 8(3) information is in the scope of eFTI (Article 2(1)(a)(iii) of Regulation 2020/1056), with a data subset of its own, coded EU03 in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/2024. Article 8(4a) does not mention eFTI, and none of the five eFTI acts in the table above mentions the e-CMR. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1942 adds a cabotage example on the eFTI side: a link published in a registry would let authorities check the goods on a truck, train or barge “without physically stopping or boarding the means of transport”, and retrieve the information on several operations by one vehicle “such as in the case of road cabotage checks” (recital 14). The cabotage rules themselves are in cabotage and posted drivers.

Business documents are addressed in recital 7 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2243. It notes that the provisions in eFTI’s scope “allow economic operators concerned, in most cases, to re-use business-to-business documents to provide the required freight transport information”, says the platform specifications “should not lay down requirements for the electronic format and use of business documents”, and expects operators to be able to re-use information from the systems “which they use to manage commercial transport documents such as consignment notes or transport orders”. A Commission webinar on business-to-business use cases, held on 23 June 2025, illustrates this with a journey by truck and ship from Finland to Sweden: three e-CMRs appear on the line headed “Source for regulatory information in scope of eFTI”, and the next slide shows nine eFTI consignment movement datasets beneath them. The slides are an illustration, not a legal text.

None of the texts cited here says that an e-CMR is itself eFTI, or that a system issuing e-CMRs is a certified eFTI platform. Certification is a separate procedure: on application by the platform developer, a conformity assessment body, accredited under Regulation (EC) No 765/2008, assesses the platform against the requirements of Article 9(1) and, if the assessment is positive, issues a compliance certificate (Articles 11(1) and 12(1)).

Combined transport: a proposal, not law

On 7 November 2023 the Commission proposed a revision of Directive 92/106/EEC that would also amend Regulation 2020/1056 (COM(2023) 702). Under the proposed new Article 3(1) of the Directive, to benefit from the support framework, “the undertaking which organises the combined transport operation, shall record and make available the transport information in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2020/1056” on “an electronic freight transport information platform (‘eFTI platform’)”. Recital 12 of the proposal concludes that “the use of an eFTI platform should be mandatory for all operations that wish to benefit from the support framework”, and its Article 2 would oblige eFTI platforms to provide a functionality for calculating external cost savings and for generating aggregated data on annual volumes of combined transport. On 23 October 2026 the European Parliament’s Legislative Observatory gave the stage reached in procedure 2023/0396(COD) as “Awaiting committee decision”. The rest of the proposal is described in combined, intermodal and multimodal transport.