Why SUMAL-TRACES integration matters

SUMAL is Romania unified timber monitoring system, managed by the Ministry of Environment. EUDR requires geolocation coordinates and legality evidence for each batch of wood placed on the EU market. The logical connection is clear: SUMAL already knows where each cubic meter was harvested, so it can feed data directly into the EU TRACES system.

Current integration status

Romanian authorities have confirmed their intention to connect SUMAL to the European Commission TRACES system. This integration would allow automatic transfer of origin and legality data to the European system, significantly simplifying the EUDR declaration process for Romanian operators.

Important: At this point, the governmental SUMAL-TRACES integration is still in progress. Technical details — data format, connection API and exact procedure — are not yet public. We recommend following official communications from the Ministry of Environment and the European Commission.

What we already do: SUMAL 2.0 integration for certification

Sustainability Today has developed its own integration with the SUMAL 2.0 API for certification group members. This integration is operational and provides:

  • Automatic volume extraction from SUMAL — no manual data entry
  • Digital traceability from forest plot to final product
  • Automatic material balance calculation per FSC and PEFC requirements
  • Instant audit report generation

This is a company-level integration (for our group members), different from the governmental SUMAL-TRACES integration which is still under development.

What this means for your company

When the governmental SUMAL-TRACES integration is finalized, companies that already have digital traceability will be much better positioned. Structured data, geolocation coordinates and legality documents can be transferred directly to TRACES.

Our certification group members already have this data structured in the digital platform. The transition to EUDR declarations will be significantly simpler.

Recommended steps

  1. Implement digital traceability now — do not wait for TRACES to be finalized
  2. Ensure your SUMAL data is complete and accurate
  3. Collect geolocation coordinates for source plots
  4. Attend an EUDR training to understand the requirements