Navigation Seals: New Data Formats for Licenses, Invoices, and Vehicle Documents Starting in Late October 2026

What approved the decision and when does it take effect

Decision No. 123 of the EEC Board dated September 21, 2026, amends Decision No. 143 of the Board dated September 25, 2023. It specifies the structures and formats of information from electronic documents and physical documents that a navigation seal must contain for the duration of tracking a specific shipment. Legal basis: the Agreement on the Use of Navigation Seals for Tracking Shipments in the EAEU dated April 19, 2022, and EEC Council Decision No. 81 of August 29, 2023.

The decision was published on September 23, 2026, and enters into force 30 calendar days after the date of its official publication. Based on this calculation, the effective date is October 24, 2026; however, the document’s entry on the EEC’s legal portal lists October 23. Use the last days of October as a guide and confirm the exact date with the operator of the system through which you transmit data.

Which documents are affected by the changes

Amendments have been made to the descriptions of five data groups used to generate information for the seal:

• licenses for the export and/or import of certain types of goods, confirming compliance with the prohibitions and restrictions under Article 7 of the EAEU Customs Code;
• decisions (permit documents) for the import, export, and transit of goods from the unified list subject to non-tariff regulatory measures;
• invoices;
• transport (shipping) documents;
• vehicle registration certificate (for the tractor unit and trailer).

This data is used to generate the information contained in the seal for the duration of the shipment’s tracking period. If the shipment includes goods requiring a license or authorization document, their details are included in the same set of information.

What exactly has changed in the data

The decision is technically detailed. To understand it, the key points boil down to several types of changes.

Businesses do not need to collect new documents: the change involves the structure in which existing information is submitted to the system. A risk arises when a carrier’s or broker’s software is still operating under the old scheme.

Who Will Be Affected in Practice

The decision is directly addressed to developers and operators of information systems, not to cargo owners. However, this raises some very practical questions:

• A carrier with its own software or an electronic document exchange (EDO) service. If the data schema hasn’t been updated, the information may fail the format validation. This is our assumption based on the logic of the validation process; the exact consequences are determined by the rules of the specific system.
• Broker and freight forwarder. They often generate electronic data based on invoices and permits on your behalf, so it’s up to them to keep the data up to date.
• A cargo owner with a license or permit. What matters to you isn’t the schema, but the accuracy of the code and details in the documents: an error in the code will end up in the seal data.

If you’re just setting up a logistics system with tracking, take a look at how we broke down a related process: SPOT and QR codes for imports from the EAEU.

What Carriers, Brokers, and Cargo Owners Should Do

1. Ask the developer or operator of your software whether it supports the data schema in accordance with Decision No. 123, and starting from what date.
2. Check with your customs broker to ensure that the updated version 1.0.1 of the data schema is being used for the registration certificates of the tractor and trailer.
3. For cargo requiring licenses and permits, verify the codes in the documents themselves: the code format is now explicitly defined.
4. Before the effective date, perform a test data generation for a single trip without waiting for the first shipment using the new schema.
5. Assign a person to monitor data transmission errors and rejections during the first few weeks after the new scheme takes effect.

We’ll help you coordinate the data transfer scheme with your carrier and verify the set of documents required for customs clearance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do we need to obtain new permits because of this decision?
No. The decision does not introduce any new mandatory documents; it clarifies the format of existing information.

What is the exact effective date?
The decision takes effect 30 calendar days after its publication on September 23, 2026. The calculation yields October 24, while the document’s entry on the EEC portal indicates October 23; therefore, you should verify the date with your system operator.

What is a “reference book” instead of a “classifier”?
This is a clarification of terminology in the description of data fields: values are taken from a reference book rather than a classifier. For the declarant, this usually does not change the content of the document.

Does this apply to all shipments?
The decision specifies the data format for shipments tracked using navigation seals. If your shipment is not sealed, this applies to you only indirectly.