# How Precise Does an EUDR Plot Geolocation Have to Be?

Source: https://activatedigital.ai/knowledge/regulation/eudr-plot-geolocation
Last verified: 12 September 2026
Summary: At least six decimal digits of latitude and longitude, a point up to four hectares and a polygon above it. Article 2(28) sets the threshold, not guidance.

## Direct answer

**The Regulation states the precision itself, so nobody has to infer it. At least six decimal digits of latitude and longitude. A single point is enough for a plot of four hectares or less. Above four hectares, for commodities other than cattle, it has to be a polygon with enough points to describe the perimeter.**

That is the definition in Article 2(28) of Regulation (EU) 2023/1115, and it is worth knowing that it is a definition rather than a guidance note. The threshold is in the operative text of the Regulation, not in a Commission FAQ that can move.

Article 9(1)(d) is what makes it your problem: an operator has to collect the geolocation of all plots of land where the relevant commodities were produced, together with the date or time range of production.

## The rule in one table

| Situation | What the Regulation asks for |
|---|---|
| Any plot | Latitude and longitude to at least six decimal digits |
| Plot of four hectares or less | At least one latitude and one longitude point |
| Plot over four hectares, commodity other than cattle | A polygon with sufficient points to describe the perimeter |
| Cattle | The polygon rule above does not apply |

Six decimal digits is roughly a tenth of a metre at the equator. That is not a demand for survey-grade equipment, but it is a demand that your data model carries the decimals rather than rounding them on the way through a spreadsheet. Truncation is the most common way this requirement is failed by a business that actually collected the right thing.

## What a plot of land is

Article 2(27) defines it, and the definition does two jobs at once.

It is land within a single real-estate property, as recognised by the law of the country of production, which enjoys sufficiently homogeneous conditions to allow an evaluation of the aggregate level of risk of deforestation and forest degradation associated with the relevant commodities produced on that land.

So a plot is bounded by two things: a legal boundary in the producing country, and homogeneity of risk. A single property with two materially different production conditions on it is not obviously one plot for this purpose, and drawing it as one is a decision you would have to defend rather than a formatting choice.

Note also what the definition does not do. It does not anchor to a farm, a supplier, a purchase order or a lot. Those are your boundaries. This one is the Regulation's.

## Why the threshold is four hectares and not six

It is worth stating plainly because the wrong number circulates. The polygon threshold in Article 2(28) is **four** hectares. Anything quoting six is quoting something else.

## What you can and cannot do with it afterwards

A plot geolocation is collected for a stated purpose: to allow the evaluation of deforestation risk for commodities produced on that land, which is what Article 2(27) says the homogeneity condition exists to enable.

That purpose travels with the data, and it is the reason the reuse question is not the same as it is for a classification code or an operator identity. Those describe the actor and the object. A plot geolocation describes a place, and often a place somebody lives and works.

Three limits follow, and none of them is a new legal rule, only the consequence of what the data is:

- **It is not a published sustainability claim.** Collecting a coordinate to discharge a
due diligence obligation does not establish anything you can assert publicly about the land, the crop or the supplier.

- **It is not automatically a passport field.** Whether a Digital Product Passport carries
production geography is decided by the product rule that creates the passport, not by whether you happen to hold the coordinate.

- **It may carry more than a location.** A precise coordinate for a smallholding can
identify a household. Where that is possible, the question stops being a data-model question, and [personal data in a product passport](https://activatedigital.ai/knowledge/passport/personal-data-and-gdpr) is the page for it.

The wider boundary between what the EUDR record can serve and what it cannot is set out on [the EUDR page](https://activatedigital.ai/knowledge/regulation/eudr), which owns the reuse question for the whole record.

## What this page does not settle

It does not tell you which of your plots need collecting. That follows from scope, and scope runs through Annex I.

It does not tell you how to collect a coordinate. The Regulation sets a precision and a geometry, and it does not name a method, an app or a coordinate reference system in the text of Article 2(28).

It does not make a collected geolocation sufficient. Article 9(1) has eight points and this is one of them.

## What would change this answer

Recheck if:

- Article 2(27) or Article 2(28) is amended, particularly the four-hectare threshold, the
six-decimal-digit precision or the cattle carve-out;

- Article 9(1)(d) is amended;
- the Commission publishes binding technical specifications for submitting geolocation that
add a requirement the definition does not contain.

**Last verified 12 September 2026.**

## Keep exploring

The questions this page usually raises next.

- [CompareNext questionEUDR: Dates, Geolocation Data and What Product Teams Actually NeedMain EUDR obligations apply from 30 December 2026, and 30 June 2027 for qualifying micro and small undertakings.→](https://activatedigital.ai/knowledge/regulation/eudr)
- [CompareNext questionWhat Goes in an EUDR Due Diligence Statement, and What Stays Behind It?The statement is what you submit before placing or exporting. The Article 9 information is what you collect and keep.→](https://activatedigital.ai/knowledge/regulation/eudr-due-diligence-statement)
- [Another angleNext questionDigital Product Passports and Personal Data: Where GDPR May ApplyUnderstand where personal data can arise around a Digital Product Passport: product data, customer data, Registry accounts and…→](https://activatedigital.ai/knowledge/passport/personal-data-and-gdpr)

## Sources and legal basis

- [Regulation (EU) 2023/1115, consolidated text](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02023R1115-20251226)