The Two Pillars of Paperless Logistics: eCMR and eFTI

The European transport market is rapidly moving towards paperless data exchange and the terms eCMR and eFTI are being heard increasingly frequently. They are often used as if they mean the same thing, although in reality they serve different purposes. eCMR is a digital transport document and an agreement between multiple parties, whereas eFTI is a digital ecosystem for exchanging transport information between businesses and public authorities. Although these two solutions are closely connected, they are not the same thing. Understanding their respective roles and how they relate to each other will become increasingly important in the European transport sector in the coming years.

What is eCMR?

The CMR Convention, adopted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in 1956, regulates international road freight transport by establishing common rules, ensuring legal certainty, and standardising transport documentation.

The legal basis for the electronic consignment note (eCMR) is the Additional Protocol to the CMR Convention, adopted on 20 February 2008 under the auspices of UNECE. The protocol recognised the electronic consignment note as legally equivalent to the paper document. It entered into force on 5 June 2011.

More than 55 countries have acceded to the CMR Convention, but significantly fewer have joined the eCMR Additional Protocol. As of June 2026, approximately 39–41 countries have ratified or acceded to the eCMR Protocol (the exact number varies slightly depending on the source and the latest accessions).

Some important transport countries, such as Hungary and Serbia, have not yet joined the eCMR Protocol, even though a significant share of European road freight transport passes through their territories. This is one of the reasons why the adoption of eCMR across Europe has not been uniform.

What did the eCMR Additional Protocol Introduce?

The eCMR Additional Protocol does not change the principles of the CMR Convention or the responsibilities of the parties involved. Instead, it allows the use of an electronic consignment note in place of the traditional paper-based document. Under the Protocol, an eCMR is legally equivalent to a paper CMR consignment note and carries the same evidentiary value.

For CMR users, this primarily means five important changes:

1. The consignment note may be created, transmitted, and stored entirely in digital form. 
2. The document must be authenticated with a reliable electronic signature. An electronic signature is considered reliable when it is uniquely linked to the signatory, enables the identification of the signatory, and is created using means under the sole control of the signatory. In addition, the signature must be linked to the document data in such a way that any subsequent modifications can be detected. 
3. The eCMR platform must ensure data integrity, meaning that all changes must be traceable and auditable. 
4. All authorised parties must have access to the consignment note data throughout the transport operation. 
5. The Protocol does not prevent the attachment of other transport-related electronic documents to the eCMR. 

In practice, eCMR means less paperwork, faster information exchange, improved transparency and traceability, and greater opportunities to automate transport processes across the entire supply chain.

Slow Adoption of eCMR in Europe

Even though the legal framework for eCMR has existed in Europe for more than a decade, its adoption has remained limited. According to the International Road Transport Union (IRU), approximately 280 million international road freight operations are carried out worldwide every year, yet eCMR is used in less than one percent of them.

According to the IRU, the adoption of eCMR has been hindered by unclear rules, poor interoperability between different systems, and the limited availability of trusted eCMR platforms. In addition, businesses and authorities have not always shared a common understanding of how digital signatures, user identification, and electronic transport documents should be handled in practice.

At the same time, the potential of eCMR may currently be underestimated. Many shippers and carriers already benefit from it today, particularly those working with a limited number of business partners for whom interoperability between different platforms is not a critical issue. Several eCMR platforms are already available, including Ybil.io, enabling companies to manage transport documentation entirely in digital form while preparing for compliance with future eFTI requirements.

However, the IRU believes that eCMR will only achieve widespread adoption when shippers, freight forwarders, and carriers are able to exchange information regardless of which eCMR platform they use. To address this challenge, the European Commission has introduced the eFTI Regulation, whose objective is to ensure harmonised and standardised transport data exchange across the European Union.

Poland is particularly well positioned to benefit from wider eCMR adoption. As one of Europe's largest road freight transport markets and a leading provider of international transport services within the European Union, Polish carriers stand to gain significantly from reduced paperwork, faster information exchange, and more efficient cross-border operations.

The First Attempt to Promote Wider eCMR Adoption in the Benelux Region

The Benelux countries launched a pilot project as early as 2017 to enable the use of eCMR throughout the Benelux region. In July 2025, the project was extended until 9 July 2027 to ensure the continued legal recognition of eCMR and to support preparations for the implementation of the European Union’s eFTI Regulation.

Although the pilot project is generally considered successful and has demonstrated that the digital consignment note works in practice, it has not yet resulted in the widespread adoption of eCMR across the European transport market. This confirms that, in addition to a legal framework, issues related to platform interoperability, standardisation, and usability must also be addressed.

A Second Attempt: Spain Makes eCMR Mandatory

Spain is preparing to become one of the first European countries where the use of digital transport documents will be mandatory. The change is part of the new Sustainable Mobility Act (Ley de Movilidad Sostenible), which aims to reduce paperwork, increase the efficiency of the transport sector, and improve the traceability of freight movements.

The new rules will enter into force on 5 October 2026 and will initially apply to domestic road transport operations within Spain. Transport documents must be in electronic form, a QR code providing access to the eCMR or a digital transport document from a mobile device during inspections.

In essence, this is Spain’s preparation for the implementation of the EU eFTI Regulation, which will become fully applicable one year later. Therefore, the Spanish solution, much like the Benelux initiative, can be seen as an intermediate step that helps both businesses and public authorities become accustomed to using digital transport documents before the introduction of eFTI-based data exchange across the European Union.

The 21-Digit Verification Code Raises Questions

If an inspecting officer, such as a police officer or customs official, requires additional information, they generate a 21-digit verification code, which the driver must enter into the eCMR platform. The platform then transmits the relevant eCMR document together with the verification code to the registry of the Spanish Ministry of Transport.

If this process remains the responsibility of the driver, it could become a significant challenge for both drivers and enforcement officers. Manually entering a 21-digit code into a mobile phone while standing at the roadside is time-consuming, inconvenient, and increases the risk of errors.

Hopefully, the Spanish authorities will develop an alternative solution that makes the inspection process faster and more user-friendly.

Several Questions Still Need to Be Resolved

There are undoubtedly several important aspects of the Spanish solution that still require clarification. For example, it is not yet entirely clear how the identification of the parties involved will be carried out. The eCMR Protocol itself does not provide a definitive answer to this question. Additional clarification is also needed regarding the process of transmitting transport data to the national registry, as well as the practical implementation and usability of the 21-digit verification code for both carriers and enforcement authorities.

Nevertheless, Spain deserves recognition for its decision to begin the digitalisation of transport documents before the eFTI Regulation becomes fully applicable. This provides valuable practical experience that can help identify bottlenecks and develop effective solutions before the introduction of the pan-European eFTI system. In a sense, Spain is acting as a testing ground for the whole of Europe, and the lessons learned there may prove highly valuable for other Member States as well. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect.

eFTI – Electronic Freight Transport Information

The first major difference between eCMR and eFTI lies in their scope of application. eCMR is intended exclusively for road freight transport, whereas eFTI covers all modes of freight transport within the European Union.

The Origins of eFTI

The European Commission began developing the eFTI framework in response to a long-standing challenge in the transport sector: companies were often required to submit the same transport information repeatedly to different authorities, frequently still using paper documents. The objective was to reduce administrative burdens, improve efficiency, accelerate information exchange, and create a harmonised framework for the digital use of transport data across the European Union.

The concept of eFTI emerged from broader European efforts to digitalise freight transport and facilitate secure data sharing between businesses and public authorities. Over several years, the European Commission worked closely with Member States, industry representatives, transport operators, and technology providers to define common requirements and establish a legal framework for electronic freight transport information.

These efforts culminated in the adoption of the eFTI Regulation (EU) 2020/1056, which entered into force in August 2020. The Regulation provides the legal foundation for the digital exchange of transport information between businesses and competent authorities throughout the European Union and represents a key step towards a more efficient, interoperable, and paperless transport sector.

What is eFTI?

eFTI is not a document and does not replace eCMR or any other transport documents used in different modes of transport. It is a system created by the European Commission that enables businesses to share transport information electronically with public authorities. If eCMR is a digital consignment note, then eFTI is the channel through which authorities can access and verify that information.

At the core of the eFTI system is the eFTI Gate, which will be established in every European Union Member State. Through these national gateways, all authorities with a legal right to access transport information will be able to do so. The development of national eFTI Gates is already underway in several EU Member States as part of ongoing efforts to prepare for the full implementation of the eFTI Regulation by July 2027.

In addition to the national gateways, the eFTI ecosystem also includes certified eFTI platforms. Many of today’s eCMR solutions, including the previously mentioned Ybil.io, are already preparing to become eFTI platforms. Their goal is to enable businesses to share transport information with public authorities through the eFTI infrastructure in the future.

Companies will be able to integrate their Transport Management Systems (TMS) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems with these platforms so that transport data can be exchanged automatically. Smaller businesses will also be able to enter data manually through web-based interfaces. Beyond data exchange, these platforms will function as digital document repositories, allowing companies to store all transport documents in one place and reduce their reliance on paper archives.

How Does eFTI Work in Practice?

How does this work in practice? Imagine that a Spanish police officer stops a truck operated by a Polish carrier transporting goods from Sweden to Portugal. The driver does not need to present paper documents or send documents by email. Instead, the officer submits a request through the Spanish eFTI Gate.

The Spanish eFTI Gate then forwards the request to the eFTI Gates of other European countries. The gateway through which the transport data was registered, and to which the platform holding the consignment note is connected, recognises the request and retrieves the required information from the relevant platform.

The data is then transmitted back through the eFTI Gate network to the Spanish police officer. The officer can access only the information that they are legally entitled to view, rather than the company’s entire documentation.

For Polish transport companies, which operate extensively across European transport corridors, eFTI has the potential to simplify interactions with authorities in multiple countries while reducing administrative costs and compliance burdens.

As a result, the inspection process becomes faster, more transparent, and more secure for businesses, drivers, and enforcement authorities alike.

The Road to eFTI Implementation

The eFTI Regulation will become fully applicable on 9 July 2027. From that date onwards, the competent authorities of all European Union Member States must be able to receive and verify transport information shared by businesses through certified eFTI platforms.

It is important to understand that eFTI does not make the use of electronic consignment notes mandatory, nor does it prohibit the use of paper documents. What it does provide is a harmonised framework that enables companies to use electronic transport documents in a consistent manner across the European Union. Once the necessary infrastructure is in place and operational, it is likely that larger cargo owners will increasingly require their carriers to use electronic transport documents in order to reduce administrative burdens and eliminate paper archiving.

Preparations for eFTI have been underway across Europe for several years. Through a series of European Commission co-funded initiatives, Member States, public authorities, industry stakeholders, and technology providers have worked together to establish the technical and organisational foundations necessary for the implementation of the eFTI ecosystem. One of the key initiatives, the eFTI4EU project, brought together several EU Member States to develop, test, and validate the solutions required for cross-border electronic freight transport information exchange.

Companies and organisations have also been actively involved in these efforts. For example, the Digital Logistics Center of Excellence has participated in several eFTI pilot projects, the creation of testing environments, and international cooperation initiatives aimed at preparing both businesses and public authorities for eFTI implementation. This provides the Estonian logistics sector with an opportunity to participate at the forefront of developing, testing, and deploying new digital solutions across Europe.

Although the eFTI4EU project will conclude in 2026, new initiatives such as eFTI4ALL and eFTI4LIVE will continue the work. Their mission is to bring eFTI solutions into practical operation and support their wider adoption throughout the European transport sector.

While several technical, organisational, and legal challenges still lie ahead, there is little doubt that the eFTI Regulation will enter into force as planned. For this reason, public authorities, software developers, and transport companies must begin preparing today for a new digital way of working. The earlier preparations begin, the smoother the transition from paper-based information exchange to digital transport data will be.

eCMR and eFTI: Key Differences

Although eCMR and eFTI are closely related, they are not the same thing. eCMR is a digital transport document that replaces the traditional paper CMR consignment note. eFTI, on the other hand, is not a document at all but a European Union data exchange ecosystem that enables businesses to share transport information electronically with public authorities.

Simply put, eCMR answers the question “What form does the transport document take?”, while eFTI answers the question “How does transport information reach public authorities?”. While eCMR digitalises a specific document, eFTI creates a unified European-wide infrastructure for the verification and exchange of transport information. For this reason, eCMR and eFTI do not compete, rather, they complement one another.

eCMR and eFTI are complementary solutions. In the future, many of today’s eCMR platforms will also become eFTI platforms. Several solutions are already preparing for this transition, including Ybil, which actively participates in eFTI-related development and pilot projects. This means that transport information originating from a company’s TMS or ERP system will be stored on an eCMR platform and, when necessary, made available to public authorities through the eFTI infrastructure.

Paperless Logistics in Europe

eCMR and eFTI are not competitors but two essential components of the same digital transformation journey. While eCMR replaces the traditional paper consignment note with a digital document, eFTI provides the Europe-wide infrastructure through which businesses and public authorities can exchange transport information securely and in a standardised manner.

The result is less paperwork, faster information exchange, lower administrative burdens, and more efficient inspection processes. Although several technical and organisational challenges remain, the direction is clear. Across Europe, public authorities, technology providers, and transport operators are working together to develop and deploy the solutions needed for a fully digital transport ecosystem. For Poland, one of Europe's most important logistics and road transport markets, this transition represents not only a regulatory challenge but also an opportunity to strengthen its position as a leader in modern and digitally enabled freight transport.

One thing is certain: the future of logistics is digital.