Error FILE-001
Not a GeoJSON file: why the EUDR system rejects PDFs, Word and Excel files
The Information System only accepts GeoJSON, which is a kind of JSON text file. A PDF, Word document or spreadsheet is rejected outright.
- Severity
- Error. The Information System rejects the file, or silently stores something other than what you meant.
- Fixed automatically?
- No, this needs a decision only you can make.
- In short
- Export your plots as GeoJSON from your GIS tool, or convert them here from KML, Shapefile, GPX or a CSV of coordinates.
What the Information System does
It rejects the upload. "Invalid file format (e.g. PDF, txt)" is one of the common file errors the Commission lists (GeoJSON File Description, Common errors 10). The system reads GeoJSON only: the specification describes one format and one coordinate system, WGS 84 (GeoJSON File Description, Introduction).
Why it happens
The Information System accepts geolocation as a GeoJSON file: plain text, written in
JSON, describing points and polygons. Anything else is refused before a single plot is
read, and the name of the file does not change what it is. A spreadsheet renamed
plots.geojson is still a spreadsheet.
Where these files come from:
- A PDF map or report from a certification body or a survey firm. It shows the plots but does not contain them as data the system can read.
- An Excel workbook with a latitude and a longitude column. The data is fine; the format is not. Converted to CSV, it can be turned into GeoJSON.
- A KML, KMZ, shapefile or GPX from Google Earth, a GIS package or a GPS app. These are real geographic formats, just not the one the system reads.
- A text file of coordinates pasted from an email.
The checker looks at the first bytes of the file, not its name, so it can tell you what it actually received.
A broken example
The first bytes of a PDF document, which is what the Information System would be handed.
%PDF-1.7
1 0 obj
<< /Type /Catalog >>
What the checker reports for this file:
Fix it in EUDRplot
- Find out what the file really is. Drop it on the checker. If it is a PDF, a Word document, a spreadsheet or an archive, the checker says which, whatever its file name ends in.
- If it is KML, a shapefile, GPX or CSV. The checker converts it to GeoJSON in your browser and then checks it. The KML, shapefile and CSV tools do the same one format at a time.
- If it is an Excel workbook. Save the sheet as CSV UTF-8 in Excel (File › Save As) and open the CSV instead. The spreadsheet guide covers column names and decimal commas.
- If it is a PDF or a scan. There is no reliable automatic route from a map picture to coordinates. Ask the supplier for the data the PDF was made from: almost every mapping app can export KML or GeoJSON.
Fix it in QGIS
- Open the source data. Layer › Add Layer › Add Vector Layer, and choose the KML, shapefile, GPX or GeoPackage the plots are in. For a CSV use Layer › Add Layer › Add Delimited Text Layer and pick the X (longitude) and Y (latitude) columns.
- Export as GeoJSON. Right-click the layer › Export › Save Features As…, choose the format GeoJSON and the CRS EPSG:4326 – WGS 84.
- Check the result. Open the new file in the checker before uploading it.
Try it: check the example, or your own file
Drop a GeoJSON, KML, shapefile or CSV here, or .
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), Common errors 10, European Commission
- EUDR GeoJSON File Description, v1.5 (5 May 2025), §6.10, European Commission (copy hosted at nli.gov.cz)
- EUDR GeoJSON File Description (EUDR Information System help, updated 17 August 2026), Introduction, European Commission
Rule FILE-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 .