In Issue Eight we reported on the Electronic Trade Documents Act receiving Royal Assent. This flagship Act came into force on September 20th and British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) are urging businesses who want to boost their exports and reduce costs to quickly embrace this new era of digital trade.
The Electronic Trade Documents Act gives legal status to electronic Bills of Exchange and Bills of Lading and other commercial documents and provides opportunities to digitalise international trade documents and reap efficiency benefits. It also covers trade documents such as promissory notes, warehouse receipts, marine insurance policies, and cargo insurance certificates.
The Act made the UK the first G7 country to place electronic trade documents on the same legal footing as paper documents. Digitalising trade makes doing business around the globe faster, cheaper and more secure, lowering the risk of fraud and of paper documents being lost, and reducing processing times by up to 75%. It is estimated the move could generate £1.14 billion for the UK economy over the next decade.
When the Act came into force, William Bain, Head of Trade Policy at the BCC, said:
“Campaigners, including the BCC, have worked for years to have the Electronic Trade Documents Act passed, and its introduction is a huge milestone.
“This new era is starting in the UK, but we can also act as a beacon, leading towards further digitalisation of trade across the world. We now need to see other governments accelerating their work to digitalise border processes.
“In our Trade Manifesto, we called on the UK Government to work with business to ensure 60% of the UK’s exports are carried out digitally by the end of the decade.
“The whole Chamber Network has already risen to this challenge and has switched to using Digital Certificates of Origin for the UK.
“As more countries make the transition, we will be able to increasingly digitize our trade – making it much less bureaucratic, and leading to big savings in both costs and time.”
Since then, and following the UK’s digital trade agreement with Singapore, the first ever fully digitalised goods shipment landed in Singapore from Burnley on 24 September 2023. A valve produced by Burnley-based manufacturer Fort Vale left Manchester Airport, facilitated by UK and Singapore based tech company LogChain, and has been processed entirely digitally, rather than via physical customs documents.
Collaboration with Singapore to execute this fully digitalised shipment was inspired by the groundbreaking UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement, signed in 2022, which was the first digitally focused trade agreement ever agreed by a European nation. The UK continues to work with other countries to promote similar reforms.