eFTI 2027: preparing your TMS and freight transport data

01

Facts: what changes on 9 July 2027?

Regulation (EU) 2020/1056 establishes a common framework for electronic communication of regulatory freight transport information between economic operators and competent authorities. It covers road, rail, air and inland waterway transport within the European Union.

Under the European Commission’s current timeline, from 9 July 2027 Member State authorities must accept information submitted electronically by an operator through a certified eFTI-compliant platform. This is not a universal obligation for businesses to move to electronic records. The Regulation preserves the option to provide information on paper where the relevant legislation continues to allow it.

The information in this article was checked on 28 September 2026. It is general operational guidance, not individual legal advice. The information required for a particular movement depends on factors including the transport mode, cargo, route and applicable legislation, so borderline cases should be reviewed with the responsible compliance professional or legal adviser.

02

Facts: eFTI is regulatory data, not one new document

eFTI concerns information an operator must make available to demonstrate compliance with legislation within the Regulation’s scope. It should not automatically be equated with an electronic consignment note, e-CMR or the entire business-document exchange between counterparties. Those processes can connect, but they have their own legal bases, roles and data scope.

The Commission explains that data will be held on secure, certified platforms that can integrate with companies’ existing data-management systems. An authority receives access in response to a specific inspection request, including through a unique access link in a machine-readable form such as a QR code. A platform may also provide selected information to authorised business partners using tailored permissions.

The common eFTI data set and its subsets are established by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/2024. Implementing regulations define authority-access procedures and platform functional requirements. Businesses therefore need to map individual data elements, sources and ownership rather than merely scan a document.

03

Facts: what is happening during the preparation period?

The first implementing and delegated acts entered into force in January 2025. Since January 2026, eFTI platforms and service providers have been able to prepare for operation, while Member State authorities may begin accepting information from certified platforms. The Commission plans to adopt the remaining implementing specifications by December 2026, including requirements for systems, services and certification.

This matters for procurement. A business can organise its data, interfaces and scenarios now, but should not base the entire decision on a product without a confirmed route to compliance with the final requirements. Certification status, supported data scope and the supplier roadmap should be checked before signing.

The Commission estimates potential operational and administrative savings of about EUR 1 billion per year for the EU transport and logistics sector. This is a market-wide forecast, not a guaranteed benefit for an individual company. The actual result depends on inspection volume, data quality, integration and the reduction in manual work.

04

WEBee recommendation: begin with a data and ownership map

Choose one real scenario, such as a domestic road movement or an international movement of a defined cargo type. Collect the documents and screens used during preparation, execution and inspection. Break the required information into individual fields, then name the source system, owner and update point for each one.

Identifiers linking the order, movement, vehicle, carrier, cargo and document are especially important. If systems use different numbers or staff copy data from email, an eFTI integration may only move the inconsistency faster.

• information obligations for the selected movement type;
• data field, format, source and business owner;
• creation time and last-update point;
• validation rules, missing data and correction ownership;
• links between TMS, ERP, telematics and the document repository;
• minimum information disclosed to the authority and operation-log retention.

05

WEBee recommendation: assess the eFTI platform as infrastructure

Do not assess a supplier only by the appearance of its portal. The platform will sit between operational company data and enforcement authorities, so integration, availability, accountability and a safe exit are central requirements.

Separate mandatory requirements from optional features in the request for proposal. Ask for a demonstration using test data from your own scenario and require the full path: record creation, update, controlled authority access, operation log, integration failure and data export at contract end.

• certification status or a documented plan for achieving it;
• supported transport types, data sets and countries;
• API, limits, versioning and a test environment;
• user identification, roles, deputies and access removal;
• logs, change history, retention and evidence of disclosure;
• SLA, backups, fallback, export and exit terms;
• total cost: implementation, integration, transactions, support and specification changes.

06

WEBee recommendation: a six-step TMS–eFTI pilot

A pilot should test more than a successful submission. Run an inspection scenario, a data change after the movement starts, loss of connectivity, a duplicate and an incorrect permission. The output should support a decision: what is ready, where integration work is required and what ongoing operation will cost.

There is no need to include the full fleet or every customer immediately. One transport type, a limited user group and a representative set of movements are enough to expose problems with identifiers, ownership and information quality.

• 1. Select one transport type and define the expected outcome;
• 2. Map data, systems, roles and the basis for disclosure;
• 3. Verify the platform, interfaces and test environment;
• 4. Integrate the minimum scope with the TMS and enable operation logging;
• 5. Test inspection, update, error, network loss and access removal;
• 6. Compare handling time, corrections, completeness, cost and user readiness.