Point or polygon? The EUDR four-hectare rule explained

The regulation defines geolocation as the location of a plot "described by means of latitude and longitude coordinates corresponding to at least one latitude and one longitude point and using at least six decimal digits", and then draws a line:

for plots of land of more than four hectares used for the production of the relevant commodities other than cattle, this shall be provided using polygons with sufficient latitude and longitude points to describe the perimeter of each plot of land

(Regulation (EU) 2023/1115, Art. 2(28))

The rule in a table

How the Information System applies it

For a point, the system relies on the Area property, the plot's size in hectares:

• No Area? It is set to four hectares (GeoJSON File Description, File Variants Description, important notes) (Information System validation rules, Geolocation area for point).
• Area above four and the commodity is not cattle? The system raises an error (Information System validation rules, Geolocation area for point).
• Area below 0.0001 hectares? Rejected (Information System validation rules, Geolocation area for point).

For a polygon, the area comes from the shape.

Which should you use?

Polygons are better evidence: they show exactly which land is declared, and they can be checked against forest maps. Points are smaller: the Commission itself suggests single points for plots under four hectares as a way to keep files under the 25 MB limit (GeoJSON File Description, Common errors 16).

If you are near the line, measure rather than guess. Four hectares measured on a flat map projection can be a few percent off; the checker and the area calculator measure on the WGS 84 ellipsoid.

Micro and small primary operators

Since the 2025 amendment, micro or small primary operators (small producers in low-risk countries placing their own produce on the market) submit a one-time simplified declaration, and may give the postal address of their plots instead of geolocation (Regulation (EU) 2025/2650, Art. 1(5)). If that describes you, a point-or-polygon decision may not arise at all.