How Suppliers Should Provide Geolocation Data

Provide identifiable production locations and their context

A useful supplier geolocation package identifies the actual production plots or cattle establishments, explains how the locations were obtained and connects them to the relevant goods. Ordinary EUDR information requirements need all contributing production locations and the production date or time range. A bare map pin or a supplier-office address does not provide that complete explanation.

Agree the data handover before the shipment is ready. The buyer needs enough time to check technical quality, traceability and substantive evidence. Suppliers should ask what the requested fields mean rather than filling uncertain fields with approximate office locations merely to make a spreadsheet appear complete.

Separate producer, plot and shipment identifiers

Provide a stable producer identifier and a separate identifier for each production plot or establishment. Link those records to deliveries or lots. A producer's trading name can change, while the production place remains relevant to earlier goods. Stable identifiers allow the buyer to preserve that history without depending on spelling consistency.

The multiple-plot recording guide illustrates the relationship structure. For several plots contributing to one delivery, list every contributing plot and explain the source record supporting the association. If a cooperative provides a full membership register, distinguish the actual sources of the assessed lot from other members who did not supply it.

Describe the coordinate source honestly

State whether the data came from field collection, recognised land records, imagery digitisation or another source. Include the acquisition date and relevant limitations. A supplier should not label coordinates as surveyed if they were estimated from a general map. The numerical precision requirement is not proof of the underlying observation's accuracy.

For polygons, explain how the boundary was identified and confirmed. For points, explain what the point represents within the production location. Preserve any cadastral or other source reference needed to interpret the record, while recognising that a land-record reference and the actual geographic geometry serve different evidential purposes.

Use the appropriate geometry

Non-cattle plots larger than four hectares require polygons describing their perimeter. A plot of exactly four hectares does not exceed the legal threshold. A supplier should provide credible area information supporting a point-or-polygon decision rather than relying on an unexplained rounded number.

Cattle need the establishments where the animals were kept, not a single polygon chosen because the supplier calls the operation a farm. Qualifying micro or small primary operators may have the narrow Article 4a postal-address alternative. The buyer and supplier should establish the applicable regime before deciding which location fields can legitimately be replaced or omitted.

Agree the technical exchange format

The Commission's current GeoJSON description uses WGS 84 decimal degrees with longitude first in coordinate arrays. Data held in another coordinate reference system need a proper transformation. Sending a screenshot can help visual review but is not equivalent to providing usable coordinates or a valid geometry file for the intended submission.

The documentation describes producer-level and multiple-producer file variants. Agree which workflow the buyer will use, then test a small representative file. Check field names, geometry types and numerical values against the current specification. Avoid inventing a shared custom format and assuming that the regulatory system will preserve every added property.

Include the production-period relationship

The coordinate collection date differs from the date or time range when the commodity was produced. A location surveyed this month may support a crop from an earlier period if the evidence establishes the relevant production relationship. Supply both concepts clearly so the buyer does not infer one from the other.

For cattle, retain the establishment and movement-date relationships. For crops and wood, identify the relevant production or harvest period and the lot association. If material is held in stock or combined across periods, explain that history rather than using the dispatch date as a substitute for production information.

Keep commercial confidentiality manageable

Identify sensitive business information and agree a secure transfer and access process. Confidentiality arrangements can help the supplier share necessary evidence without publishing its full sourcing network indiscriminately. They should not prevent the operator from meeting its information obligations or making records available to competent authorities as required.

If a mapping platform is used, confirm that the buyer can retain and retrieve the evidence it needs. A temporary dashboard view can disappear when a subscription ends. Keep export rights, file ownership and correction responsibilities clear, especially where a cooperative or intermediary is managing records on behalf of many producers.

Make corrections explicit and reviewable

When an origin or geometry changes, provide a new version, explain the reason and identify affected lots and periods. Do not silently overwrite a prior file. A corrected spelling and a boundary expansion can have very different consequences for the buyer's assessment, so the nature of the change should be visible.

The geolocation requirements guide explains how the buyer uses the package. Primary references are Articles 2 and 9 and the official GeoJSON description. A good handover combines usable geometry with an intelligible production and traceability record, allowing uncertainty to be investigated before release.

Agree how the buyer will acknowledge a correction and close the issue. Sending a replacement attachment does not establish that the purchasing system, assessment file and submission preparation all use it. A correction log should identify the accepted version and the affected goods, preventing an older file from being reused by another department after the supplier has supplied better evidence.