Preparing machine-readable documents for your EcoVadis assessment

To ensure consistency, and scalability of EcoVadis ratings services, documents provided during the assessment must be machine-readable in order to be fully considered during the assessment process. This ensures accurate and efficient extraction and translation of information, which is crucial for a comprehensive review. Documents that are not machine-readable may not be fully translated and could result in delays or missing information in your assessment.

Why are some documents not translated?

EcoVadis uses automated OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to extract and translate text from submitted documents. In some cases, the system cannot process a file if the document is not machine-readable. This typically happens when:

• The document is a scanned image, screenshot, or photo
• The content includes handwritten text
• The file is encrypted, corrupted, or password-protected
• The text is embedded in an image rather than typed in a digital format

If OCR cannot extract the necessary content, the document is marked as “non-readable” and cannot be translated. These documents may not be fully considered during the assessment unless the relevant information is visible elsewhere.

What is changing?

Previously, some non-readable documents may have undergone additional processing. Moving forward:

• Only documents that meet automated OCR criteria will be translated and reviewed

How to ensure that the documents are translated and reviewed

To avoid delays or missing information, please follow these guidelines when preparing your files:

• Submit documents in machine-readable formats where text can be selected or copied
• Export documents directly from Word, Excel, or your internal systems (e.g., ERP, HR, accounting tools)
• Avoid uploading scanned images, screenshots, photos of documents and handwritten forms
• Ensure documents are not encrypted, locked, or corrupted