Capacity Building

eFTI (Electronic Freight Transport Information) is an EU Regulation (EU 2020/1056) that sets the legal framework for sharing freight transport information electronically between businesses and Competent Authorities in the EU. Competent Authorities are the national control bodies designated by each Member State to check regulatory transport information — for example police, and road inspectorates. The main goal of the eFTI Regulation is to replace paper documents with secure, standardised electronic data. This reduces the administrative burden, speeds up procedures, and makes transport controls more efficient.

From 9 July 2027, the eFTI Regulation becomes fully applicable. EU Member State authorities will be obliged to accept eFTI data when economic operators choose to provide information electronically. Economic operators (cargo owners, freight forwarders, carriers, etc.) are not obliged to use eFTI. Participation is voluntary—they can decide whether or not to provide information via an eFTI platform.

• Regulatory compliance will be simplified through digitalisation and standardisation of requirements across the EU, reducing manual work, costs and administrative overhead.
• On-field controls by Competent Authorities (e.g., roadside checks on road transports) will be streamlined, reducing stop times and speeding up operations.
• Thanks to early adoption, companies can stay ahead of potential future regulations, positioning themselves as leaders in digital transformation within the logistics sector.
• Enhancing competitiveness by ensuring accurate, transparent, and standardised data management.
• Leveraging digital platforms with advanced encryption and security measures to protect sensitive information and reduce risks associated with physical document handling and storage

Transport modes covered under eFTI regulation are road, rail, inland waterway, and air transport

The company can choose the most suitable private, certified eFTI platform to connect and share its transport data. The data remains at the source. When a Competent Authority (e.g. Police, Road Inspectorate—depending on each Member State’s designation) needs to check the data, it sends a request through the secure eFTI Gateway network. The authority can then view the required information via the eFTI platform. eFTI works with data elements defined in the eFTI Regulation rather than full documents. This means Competent Authorities can access only the specific data elements they are legally allowed to see, minimising any unnecessary exposure of company data. Compared to paper document checks, where authorities often see full documents even if only one detail is needed, eFTI significantly reduces data exposure and increases control and transparency for companies.

eFTI Platform: An eFTI platform is a private, certified digital environment (such as a system, application, or database) used by companies to store, process, and share their freight transport information electronically.
It is chosen and used by economic operators. eFTI Gate: An eFTI Gate is a publicly owned, EU Member State–operated system that acts as a secure intermediary between eFTI platforms and Competent Authorities.
When authorities need to check data, the request is routed through the Gate, ensuring secure access and traceability. In short:

• Platforms: private, certified, used by companies
• Gates: public, operated by Member States, used for authority access