1. Purpose & Scope

This Standard Operating Procedure governs the collection of production-plot geolocation for EUDR due diligence under Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 (Art. 9) and the 40-point EUDR checklist (Section B – Plot geolocation). It applies to every field officer, data steward and coordinator collecting or validating coordinates for registered farmers and plots.

2. Roles & Responsibilities

• Field officer – captures coordinates in the field and records the Plot Register fields (plot_id, collection_date, collection_time, field_officer, gps_accuracy_m).
• Data steward – runs quality control (Section 7) and maintains the Plot Register.
• EUDR compliance lead – approves datasets before handover to the EU operator.

3. Required Coordinate Format

All coordinates must be captured in decimal degrees on WGS84 (EPSG:4326), with at least 6 decimal places (checklist points B6, B7). Do not record degrees-minutes-seconds. Verify sign conventions: latitude north positive, south negative; longitude east positive, west negative. Reject coordinates whose sign or magnitude is inconsistent with the plot's known country/district.

4. Point vs Polygon Rule

• Plots under 4 hectares: record at least one coordinate point per plot (checklist B8).
• Plots over 4 hectares (other than cattle): record a polygon with sufficient points to describe the perimeter (checklist B9). Store the polygon as a referenced GeoJSON file (polygon_geojson_ref in the Plot Register).

5. Field Collection Procedure

Recommended practice (the source document defines the method as operational best practice, checklist B11):

1. Before the visit, confirm the farmer and plot identity in the Farmer/Plot Register.
2. Stand at a representative location (or walk the perimeter for polygons).
3. Capture the coordinate with the device GPS; record the reported accuracy (gps_accuracy_m).
4. Record collection_date and collection_time and the field_officer name in the Plot Register.
5. Flag any plot that could not be captured and re-schedule it – never estimate coordinates.

6. Offline Capability

The capture method must work offline, without connectivity, for rural areas with low internet penetration (checklist B12). Records are stored on-device and synchronised when connectivity returns. Context quoted by the source document: EAC internet penetration 28.5% vs 67.9% globally – plan field work assuming no connection.

7. Data Quality Control

Before a dataset is approved (checklist B13), the data steward verifies:

• Duplicates: no two plots share identical coordinates.
• Out-of-area coordinates: coordinates fall inside the expected country/district boundary.
• Precision: at least 6 decimal places, WGS84 decimal degrees.
• Completeness: every Plot Register row has geometry_type, coordinates or a polygon reference, collection date/time and field officer.

Failing records are returned to the field officer, never edited silently.

8. Export & Handover to the EU Operator

Approved plot data is exported as GeoJSON for bulk upload to the EU Information System (TRACES NT) (checklist B10). The dataset is delivered to the EU operator/importer who files the Due Diligence Statement (checklist F30–F31); the DDS reference number is then recorded in the Lot Traceability register (dds_ref). Records supporting the DDS are retained for at least 5 years (checklist C18, Art. 10).