These proceedings introduce the main techniques and ideas for a systematic effective field theory analysis of CP violation in the charged lepton sector. This study is required because the Standard Model of particle physics predicts a very high degree of CP violation suppression in the lepton sector, and this implies that possible new physics effects can be parameterised in terms of new interactions among the Standard Model fields, in the framework of the so-called Standard Model Effective Field Theory. In analogy with previous investigations of charged lepton flavour violating observables, this document illustrates how the current limits on leptonic CP violation coming from the electric-dipole moment of the leptons can be recast into constraints on the effective coefficients defined at a given decoupling scale. Furthermore, important bounds acting on previously unconstrained parameters are discussed.