Electronic documents for freight transport

The large majority of freight transport operations within the EU still required the use of paper documents. Electronic documentation in freight transport was used only in some Member States that based their decision on international public law, namely the Additional Protocol to the United Nations Convention for the carriage of goods concerning the electronic consignment note. Only 12 EU Member States had ratified or acceded to this protocol.

Despite the international public law provisions calling for digital documentation in transport of goods, the lack of European legislation limited practical application of this rule. This was mainly visible in cross-border and multimodal transport of goods.

Two main problems linked with the electronic documents for freight transport had been identified:

+ acceptance of e-documentation by all Member States and their authorities
+ lack of generally applicable and binding rules on electronic transport documents.

The European Parliament had also underlined on various occasions the need for use of electronic documentation in freight transport.

The European Commission was expected to launch an initiative aimed at leveraging the potential of digitalisation in the transport sector through fostering the recognition of freight transport documents in an electronic form by authorities and/or commercial partners in the second quarter of 2018.