Mandatory electronic document management in the field of freight transportation

Effective September 1, 2026, provisions will come into force, requiring the processing of most shipping documents exclusively in electronic form. The new requirements apply to all participants in the shipping process, regardless of their field of activity.

In practice, the changes will affect almost any business that:

• sends or receives goods;
• purchases products from suppliers;
• attracts third-party carriers;
• uses the services of transport and forwarding companies.

The following documents must be converted into electronic format:

• electronic consignment note (ECN);
• order to the forwarder;
• forwarding receipt;
• warehouse receipt;
• railway bills of lading;
• air waybills.

To ensure a unified registration procedure, the Federal Tax Service has already approved the formats for the relevant documents. This will allow transportation participants to exchange them in a standardized format, regardless of the information system used.

When exceptions are allowed

The Ministry of Transport has provided for a number of cases in which paperwork will be retained. Specifically, electronic document management is not mandatory:

• when transporting goods for the needs of government agencies, defense, security and law enforcement agencies;
• when transporting special and military cargo;
• during transportation in emergency situations, high alert conditions, martial law, or during counter-terrorism operations;
• if the client does not have the technical capability to issue electronic documents due to force majeure circumstances;
• if the forwarder does not have such an opportunity;
• if the customer of the transportation is an individual purchasing services for personal, family or household needs;
• if the client under the freight forwarding agreement is a foreign individual or legal entity.

How will the system work?

The transfer of shipping documents will be carried out through the State Information System of Electronic Shipping Documents (GIS ESD). This system will create, store, and process information on all electronic shipping documents.

However, businesses will not have direct access to the GIS ESD. The system will be operated through accredited operators of electronic transport document information systems (ETD IS) included in the relevant register of the Ministry of Transport.

Such operators provide:

• creation and completion of electronic transport documents;
• signing documents with a qualified electronic signature;
• exchange of documents between all participants in the transportation;
• verification of document compliance with the approved formats of the Federal Tax Service;
• transfer of information to the GIS ESD;
• interaction with other operators based on the roaming principle.

What businesses need to do

Organizations and individual entrepreneurs are advised to prepare in advance for the transition to mandatory electronic document management.

In particular, you will need:

• obtain a qualified electronic signature (QES) for the head of an organization or individual entrepreneur;
• issue employees with electronic signatures and machine-readable powers of attorney (MRA) if the documents will be signed by someone other than the manager;
• select and connect to an accredited operator of the electronic payment system;
• provide employees with access to the electronic document management service;
• appoint persons responsible for working with shipping documents;
• if necessary, organize the connection of drivers and other participants in the transportation process.

Despite the need to restructure internal processes, the transition to electronic shipping documents can significantly simplify companies’ work.

Among the main advantages:

• reduction of costs for paper, printing, document storage and courier delivery;
• secure storage of documents in government information systems and with electronic document management operators without the risk of their loss;
• acceleration of settlements between transportation participants due to the elimination of the need to send paper original documents;
• the ability for all participants in a shipment to work simultaneously with a single document, which reduces the number of errors and speeds up the approval of changes;
• Reducing the number of requests from regulatory authorities due to their direct access to transport information.

Given that the transition to mandatory electronic document management will require technical preparation, companies that regularly transport cargo or use carrier services should now check the readiness of their internal processes, the availability of the required electronic signatures, and the ability to integrate with accredited ESD information system operators. This will help avoid organizational complications once the new requirements come into effect.