Vanquishing the Paper Trail: An Update on Progress in Moving to a Global Paperless Trading System

Abstract

One of the most enduring features of global trade across the centuries has been the necessity for paper documentation to accompany goods. The costs and inefficiencies associated with this universal requirement have been recognised by governments and the private sector for well over twenty years now, as have the potential benefits of moving to a paperless trading system where information flows are digitalized. There have been significant developments towards the realization of a seamless paperless trading environment since the Covid-19 pandemic, driven both by private sector innovations and government reforms such as the passage of the Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023 in the United Kingdom. The latter is a particularly significant development that will allow for the legal recognition of key trade documents, a critical step in allowing the development of paperless trading systems. Despite this and other steps forward, implementation of the measures necessary to achieve a truly seamless global paperless trading system is far from comprehensive, and some regions of the world lag behind, as does implementation of certain cross-border paperless trading measures (e.g. electronic exchange of anitary and phytosanitary certificates). paperless trade, cross border paperless trade, digital trade; paper documentation, FTAs and paperless trade, trade facilitation, digital trade