Ukraine, Moldova and Azerbaijan selected for electronic freight transport information (eFTI) exchange roadmap development
Date: 01/06/23
The EU4Digital Facility has selected Ukraine, Moldova and Azerbaijan as the Eastern partner countries that will receive tailored roadmaps for deploying electronic freight transport information (eFTI) exchange. The roadmaps will be created in line with the European Union’s eFTI Regulation, set to come into effect in December 2025, which will simplify and digitise information exchange between shippers, carriers, authorities and other stakeholders involved in the transportation of goods. Implementing an eFTI-like approach in Eastern partner countries will aid their integration into the EU eFTI ecosystem and benefit their authorities and business operators.
When selecting the priority countries, EU4Digital evaluated the current freight transport information exchange environment regarding road, rail and inland waterway transport. This covered various categories such as current progress in electronic logistics, application of international standards, the existing legal basis for e-freight information exchange, and relevant ongoing initiatives. The size of trade flows with the EU were also considered. Ukraine, Moldova, and Azerbaijan were selected as the most willing and ready candidates for the eFTI deployment exercise.
Ruta Salvyte-Tamosiuniene, EU4Digital Deputy Team leader, was pleased to announce the selection results. “These countries have shown a strong commitment as well as progress to date in electronic freight transport data exchange on national level,” she said.
Examples of these commitments are:
Ukraine is currently implementing a national electronic consignment notes management system in road transport (eTTN).
Moldova launched e-Transport Authorization in 2022, for issuing road transport authorisation requests for both local and international freight transport.
Azerbaijan is gaining importance as a multimodal logistics hub between Asia and Europe and is actively developing roadmaps for international standards implementation in data digitalisation and document exchange, including eFTI and UN/CEFACT recommendations.
“EU4Digital looks forward to working with Ukraine, Moldova and Azerbaijan to take their progress in electronic freight transport data exchange even further, building on the existing foundations for eFTI deployment roadmap creation in line with the EU eFTI Regulation.”
Ruta Salvyte-Tamosiuniene, EU4Digital Deputy Team leader
What happens next?
The EU eFTI Regulation requires the use of a standard format for electronic freight transport information and establishes a legal framework for its exchange. The EU4Digital Facility eTrade stream will closely work with the selected Eastern partner countries to carry out a current state of play assessment. Based on this assessment, recommendations in regulatory, technical and organisational areas will be outlined. A roadmap will then be created, outlining how to implement an eFTI-like approach in order to establish multimodal electronic freight transport information exchange, tailored to the current freight transport information exchange environment in each country.
Benefits of eFTI
The implementation of an eFTI-like approach is expected to bring significant benefits to the participating countries.
Business operators would benefit from simplified procedures and processes, reduced administrative burden, and increased efficiency, which in turn results in faster transportation, earlier release of trucks for next loads, and eventually a better utilisation of vehicles.
At the same time, authorities will benefit from better data accuracy, enhanced monitoring and control capabilities, real-time access to the information, and overall operational efficiency.
Lastly, an established electronic freight transport information exchange environment would also smooth the integration of Eastern partner countries into the EU eFTI ecosystem over the longer term.
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