Summary explanatory note:

Mandate, scope and legal base DTLF SG1 – Team1

The DTLF SG1 is mandated to provide advice and technical expertise to the Commission in the preparation, development and implementation of the eFTI Regulation and to assist the Commission in the (early) preparation of delegated and implementing acts related to it. As part of the overall mandate, Team 1 of SG1 (Team Data) is tasked to provide assistance, advice and technical expertise on the establishment of the common eFTI data set and subsets in relation to the respective regulatory information requirements, including corresponding definitions for each data element included in the common data set and subsets.

Article 7 of the eFTI Regulation (REGULATION (EU) 2020/1056 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 15 July 2020 on electronic freight transport information) states that the Commission shall adopt delegated acts by establishing and amending the eFTI common data set and eFTI data subsets in relation to the respective regulatory information requirements referred to in Article 2(1). When adopting the delegated acts, the Commission shall take into account relevant international conventions and Union law and seek to ensure the interoperability. The first such delegated act shall cover all the elements referred to in paragraph 1 and shall be adopted no later than 21 February 2023. The eFTI common data set and eFTI data subsets are defined in article 3 of the eFTI Regulation

An overview of the regulatory information requirements referred to in article 2(1) can be found in the ‘Overview of the eFTI data scope and data requirements’ which is posted on the DTLF SharePoint.

The legislation which mentioned in article 2 requires economic operators (EO) to provide freight transport information (FTI) to competent authorities (CA) for the fulfilment of their control tasks. In its current form, the legislation covered by the eFTI Regulation requires in general that the FTI requirements are presented in paper format (transport documents) to the competent authorities. The eFTI Regulation enables that the required FTI can also be presented in electronic form and at the same time harmonise the electronic data requirements.

However, it should also be noted that Recital 7 of the eFTI Regulation underlines that the Regulation is only intended to facilitate and encourage the provision of information between the economic operators and competent authorities by electronic means. Therefore the eFTI Regulation cannot alter the data requirements, set new data requirements, cannot change which party has to provide the data or which party has liability over the data provided, and cannot change any other provisions related to the availability of the data for inspection by the authorities such as on timing, duration/archiving or language.

Nonetheless a “translation” of data requirements to a digital form may require a certain degree of alteration, in the sense of better specification, needed to ensure interoperability for efficient machine-to-machine communication. As required by the eFTI Regulation, detailed specifications on the definition and technical characteristics for each data element should be included in the delegated acts. The current legislation covered by the eFTI Regulation does not always contain, for example, definitions or specific formatting requirements. This means that the current data requirements need to be supplemented in various cases. Lastly, the eFTI Regulation requires a harmonisation of the requirements and data elements common to the different eFTI data subsets should be included only once in the common data set. This also can results in certain alterations.

Data which is not part of the eFTI Common Data Set and Data Subsets

As mentioned previously, according to article 7 of the EFTI Regulation, the Commission shall adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 14 to supplement the eFTI Regulation by establishing and amending the eFTI common data set and eFTI data subsets in relation to the respective regulatory information requirements referred to in Article 2(1). However, next to the data which fall under the scope of article 2 and the definitions of the eFTI common data set and its subsets, other data is also required and/or considered beneficial for the electronic data exchange as enabled by the eFTI Regulation. This includes:

1. Data required by the eFTI Regulation itself;

2. Data required to make the eFTI environment function;

3. Data which is not (specifically) required by the legislation covered by the eFTI regulation, but would improve electronic data exchange, data quality and the processing of that data;

4. Data which is not (specifically) required by the legislation covered by the eFTI regulation, but would improve and further enable electronic data exchange outside the scope of eFTI and in support of the only-once-principle;

Because these data requirements/options are not within the scope and definitions of article 2, 3 and 7 of the eFTI Regulation, these data requirements/options cannot be referred to as being part of the eFTI common data set or its subsets. Therefore, within the DTLF SG1, the overall collection of data requirements is referred to as the ‘eFTI Data Requirements’ (eFTI-DR).

Work of DTLF SG1 Team 1 (Data) so far

As described in the SG1 Workplan, SG1 is divided into 4 separate teams; data (1), functional (2), technical (3) and implementation & certification (4). The task of Team 1 is, in short, defined as follows:

• Objective – Perform the preparations for the establishment of the eFTI common dataset and subsets

• Scope - Legally required freight information within the scope of the eFTI regulation

• Conditions - Re-use of closely related EU and international data standards & requirements

• Taking into account - National Legislation/Practical requirements, International Standards/Conventions, Private sector/B2B standards

As of Q3 2020 a core-team of SG1-team 1 was formed to further analyse the data requirements of the legislation covered by the eFTI Regulation, the input from members and other relevant aspects such as international conventions/standards. The core-team was established based on a call of expression of interest to all Team 1members that led to the following composition:

-              Representatives and subject matter experts from all relevant modes of transport

-              Representatives and subject matter experts from several Member States’ authorities

-              Representatives and subject matter experts of 3 Commission DG’s (ENV, DIGIT & MOVE)

-              Representatives and subject matter experts in Dangerous Goods

-              Data, IT and standardisation experts (e.g. UN/CEFACT and GS1)

Additionally, several of these representatives also have active roles in the DTLF SG2 and DTLF related CEF projects (Federated and Fenix).

The main general conclusion of the core team so far are:

1) The UN/CEFACT Multi Modal Transport Reference Data Model (MMT-RDM) provides the most suitable base for the establishment of the common dataset and subsets;

2) Where possible, coding of data is preferred over textual depiction (e.g. the identification of parties involved and identification of goods or identification of locations);

3) In certain cases (e.g. for Waste Shipments and Dangerous Goods) functional issues (SG1-team 2) need to be resolved before data requirements can be included in the common dataset and subsets;

4) Due to specific legal requirements, operational practices and existing IT systems, a full harmonisation might not be possible, but at the same time current requirements, practices and systems cannot remain entirely in their current state either;

5) In various cases there is a need/wish to include additional data or detailing of data which is not (explicitly) required by the legislation covered by the eFTI Regulation;

6) In certain cases the actual information needed to perform the compliance checks required by the legislation covered by eFTI is not literally the specific data as required in that legislation

7) Various legal questions remain which need to be further analysed such as:

a. Within the eFTI Regulation itself (e.g. the definition of ‘Shipment’ of article 3(18))

b. Within the legislation covered by the eFTI Regulation (e.g. definitions, purpose and relevance of the data requirement in a digital environment)

c. Within legislation and/or conventions which are not in the scope of the eFTI Regulation but nonetheless have an overlap in requirements and/or are linked to the provision of the eFTI data requirements

In Q4 of 2020, all considerations, conclusions and remaining questions were gathered and handed-over to the DTLF support contractors to model the data requirements. The results of the work of the SG1 Data Team and the DTLF support contractors so far were processed into this First Draft of the eFTI Data Requirements.

HTML version of the first draft of eFTI-DR

This HTML version of the first draft of eFTI-DR serves as support to the review through the MS Excel files. It provides a more visualised depiction of the eFTI data requirements. It also allows on the one hand to have a better overview of the structure of the data and their relationships and on the other hand allows to “zoom in” in specific details of it. The Class Diagram, which was requested by members for review is also included in the HTML version.

In general the use of the HTML version should speak for itself. Nonetheless, some basic understanding of data modelling and the UN/CEFACT MMT RDM are required. A similar HTML version of the full UN/CEFACT MMT RDM can be found on the UN/CEFACT streamlined webpage.

The menu items of the HTML version of the first draft eFTI-DR contain:

- Start; general information including the date of publication, status, disclaimer and summary explanation

- Overall Diagram; containing the (class) diagram as discussed and requested by members

- Guideline; the collection of all data elements of the UN/CEFACT MMT-RDM which have been identified so far by DTLF SG1 as being useful for eFTI-DR. The Guideline also includes the UN names and definitions for reference as well as the DTLF SG1 names, definitions/clarifications, code remarks and comments

- Components; the restricted classes of the UN/CEFACT Core Component Library whereby the cut down criteria is whether or not elements and associations to other classes are needed for eFTI-DR

- Restricted Code Lists; currently there are no eFTI-DR subset code lists defined which re-use internationally agreed code lists. If these will be defined then here the used code lists and their allowed code values could be presented

- Full Code lists; the code lists from those data elements of the UN/CEFACT MMT-RDM which are used in the Guideline. Note: they are not part of the eFTI-DR but considered to be a good basis for further development.