Severity: Error. The Information System rejects the file, or silently stores something other than what you meant.
Fixed automatically?: Yes, in one click. The change is listed in the change log.
In short: If the type is only misspelled, such as "FeatureColection", we correct it. Otherwise the file is some other kind of JSON (TopoJSON, an API response): export it again as GeoJSON.

What the Information System does

The specification describes files whose top-level object is a FeatureCollection, a Feature or one of the geometry types, and names the accepted type strings, which are case-sensitive (GeoJSON File Description, Definitions). A file whose top level is anything else is not GeoJSON plot data (RFC 7946, §3).

Why it happens

Every GeoJSON file begins by saying what it is: {"type": "FeatureCollection", ...}. The accepted types are a short, case-sensitive list: FeatureCollection, Feature, Point, MultiPoint, Polygon, MultiPolygon and GeometryCollection. Anything else, and the file is some other kind of JSON.

The usual suspects:

A typo or the wrong capitals, from a hand-written or generated file: FeatureColection, featureCollection, Featurecollection.
TopoJSON, a compact cousin of GeoJSON used by web mapping libraries. It starts with "type": "Topology" and cannot be read as GeoJSON.
An API response, where the GeoJSON sits inside a wrapper such as {"status": "ok", "data": {...}}.
Esri JSON, exported from ArcGIS services, which uses "rings" and "spatialReference" instead of GeoJSON's structure.

A single Feature or a bare geometry at the top level is valid. Most tools, and every official example, use a FeatureCollection, though, and it is the only root that can hold more than one plot.

A broken example

{
  "type": "FeatureColection",
  "features": [
    {
      "type": "Feature",
      "properties": {
        "ProducerName": "Coopérative Agricole",
        "ProducerCountry": "CI",
        "ProductionPlace": "Parcelle 7",
        "Area": 2.31
      },
      "geometry": {
        "type": "Polygon",
        "coordinates": [
          [
            [-4.377412, 5.324871],
            [-4.373118, 5.324903],
            [-4.373085, 5.321447],
            [-4.377389, 5.321419],
            [-4.377412, 5.324871]
          ]
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

What the checker reports for this file:

The file's top-level "type" is "FeatureColection". It has to be FeatureCollection, Feature, or one of the geometry types. Did you mean "FeatureCollection"?, line 2, column 11

After the fix. Changed the file's type from "FeatureColection" to "FeatureCollection". Centred on 5.3232° N, 4.3752° W.

Fix it in EUDRplot

Open the file in the checker. The first line of the file is highlighted, with the type the checker found.
If the type is misspelled. For a near miss such as "FeatureColection" or "featurecollection", choose Correct the file's type. Only the word changes.
If it is another format altogether. A "Topology" is TopoJSON; an object with "data" or "results" at the top is usually an API response wrapping the GeoJSON. Export again as plain GeoJSON, or copy out the part that starts with {"type": "FeatureCollection".

Fix it in QGIS

Open the source, not the broken file. QGIS can read TopoJSON and most GeoJSON variants through GDAL. Add the original file with Layer › Add Layer › Add Vector Layer.
Export as GeoJSON. Right-click › Export › Save Features As…, format GeoJSON, CRS EPSG:4326. The result starts with a FeatureCollection.

Try it: check the example, or your own file

Drop a GeoJSON, KML, shapefile or CSV here, or .

Open the full checker

Checked in your browser. The file is not uploaded, stored or sent anywhere.

Sources

EUDR GeoJSON File Description (EUDR Information System help, updated 17 August 2026), Definitions, European Commission
RFC 7946: The GeoJSON Format, §3, Internet Engineering Task Force

Rule STRU-001, rule set 2026.09.2. The same rule runs in the checker, the free tools and the command-line tool.

Last verified against these sources on 23 September 2026.