How long do I get to complete the EcoVadis questionnaire?

Your submission deadline is shown on the questionnaire in your EcoVadis account, and your buyer may give you an earlier date of its own. Work to the earlier one. Most of the time goes on finding dated, readable documents, not typing answers, so start with the paperwork.

Two dates, and why the gap matters

The date in your EcoVadis account is when the questionnaire must be submitted. Your buyer's email may say something different, because they want your scorecard in time for their own supplier review. After you submit, EcoVadis analysts spend more than 15 hours reviewing your answers and documents before the scorecard is published, so ask your buyer whether their date means submitted or published.

What eats the time

• Policies that exist only in someone's head. EcoVadis treats a missing document as a missing system, so an unwritten safety or ethics rule scores like no rule.
• Scanned files. A photo of a signed policy is not readable text, so it earns nothing. Save policies from the original file as PDF.
• The 55-file cap. You cannot upload every certificate you own, so combine and choose.
• Linking. A document only counts when it is attached to the answer it supports.

A ten-working-day plan for a small team

1. Day 1: Log in, read the questionnaire set-up (sites, size, industry) and confirm both deadlines with your buyer.
2. Days 2 to 3: Collect what already exists: ISO certificates, factory licence, safety records, HR policies, the code of conduct you signed for this buyer.
3. Day 4: Pull 12 months of electricity bills and fuel invoices for every site and turn them into Scope 1 and 2 totals.
4. Days 5 to 6: Put on paper the rules you already follow but never wrote down: environment and energy, health and safety, anti-bribery, supplier conduct. Date and sign each one. Write what you really do; EcoVadis analysts screen out documents made only for the rating.
5. Days 7 to 8: Fill the answers and attach each document to the right question.
6. Day 9: Re-read every answer that says yes and check a document backs it.
7. Day 10: Submit, and tell your buyer the date you submitted.

If you will miss the date

Tell your buyer before the deadline, not after, with the date you can submit and what is holding you up. A paid plan with a fast-tracked review exists, but it speeds up EcoVadis's review, not your paperwork.

What Senseible does here

Day 4 is where Senseible saves time: bills and fuel invoices become Scope 1 and 2 totals with the source behind each line, ready to attach. Its team can draft the energy and emissions answers from them, and you review and submit before the date.

• Turn bills into Scope 1 and 2
• Why energy figures get no credit
• Do I have to pay for EcoVadis?
• Carbon evidence EcoVadis asks for
• Questionnaire support

Sources: EcoVadis, Sustainability Rating methodology disclosure document (2026), EcoVadis, plans and pricing for rated companies

Last reviewed 2026-10-29. Re-check EcoVadis's document rules, the 55-file limit and the analyst review time with each methodology edition.