Starting September 1, 2026, it will no longer be possible to exchange a waybill directly - the document must pass through an accredited electronic document management operator, for a fee, with an electronic signature and connection to the state system. Previously, two people could simply exchange a sheet of paper. Now a paid intermediary stands between them, without whom the transaction does not legally exist.
How It Will Work in Practice
Under Federal Law No. 140-FZ, starting September 1, all participants in freight transportation - the shipper, carrier, forwarder, and consignee - are required to issue the waybill electronically through the state information system for electronic transport documents. A paper waybill is now permitted only in an exhaustive list of exceptions fixed by Ministry of Transport Order No. 262: a technical failure recorded by the state GosSOPKA system, absence of internet access in a specially approved list of localities, military cargo, or transport for citizens' personal needs. For the remaining 99 percent of commercial shipments, it's digital only, through an operator only, and for a fee only.
Moreover, there are several operators, and they formally compete, but for a document to travel from your operator to your counterparty's operator, "roaming" between them is required - and at the system's launch, this worked fully for only a handful of companies. That means businesses don't just have to pay for a connection; they have to guess which specific operator all their partners use, or the waybill simply won't reach its recipient.
A Fine for What Used to Be Free
Issuing a paper document outside the closed list of exceptions is a violation with real consequences: a traffic police inspector fines the driver under Article 12.3 of the Administrative Offenses Code, while the tax authority can declare the paper waybill invalid and strike the transport expenses from income tax calculations along with the VAT deduction. The result is an elegant construction: transferring the waybill used to cost nothing; now it is mandatory and paid for; and its absence is punished twice over - with a fine and the loss of tax deductions.
Add to this electronic signatures, smartphones for every driver, machine-readable powers of attorney for every warehouse worker and logistics manager, and the counterparty's readiness to work within the same system, and the picture becomes complete. Even presidential adviser Igor Levitin has openly warned that road freight volumes could decline because of registration problems, with cargo shifting to rail - meaning the state risks pushing an entire industry, with its own hands, toward more expensive and less flexible logistics.
The Cipollino Universe in Action
In Gianni Rodari's world, the poor were taxed on air, on rain, on sunset - the absurdity was a metaphor, not an instruction manual. Here, the metaphor has become literal: the right to simply hand a sheet of paper to a business partner is now subject to a fee paid to an operator, and refusing to pay is punished with a fine and the loss of deductions. Business already operates under constant inspections, fines, and a deteriorating business climate - and at precisely this moment, the system invents yet another paid turnstile out of thin air, in a place where nothing was required before.
.png){kind=icon}
.png){kind=icon}
.png)
.png){kind=icon}
