Acceptance of electronic freight transport information

Briefing 17-01-2019

In freight transport, handling of paper documents creates administrative burden and inefficiency to transport logistics chains. The use of electronic documents in this respect would improve the efficiency of transport, especially in multimodal and cross-border transport, and facilitate the functioning of the single market. The IA accompanying the Commission’s legislative proposal, which aims to foster the electronic exchange of documents and information, provides a good presentation of the problems, objectives and policy options. It appears that the stakeholders’ views have been taken into account when making a choice of the preferred option. On the other hand, the IA could have explained estimated impacts of the initiative in more depth, in particular concerning the expected social and environmental impacts.