Business, Freight News, IT, Logistics

New bill paves the way for electronic B/Ls in UK

[ October 14, 2022   //   Chris Lewis ]

The Government introduced an Electronic Trade Documents Bill on 12 October. The legislation aims to end the need for paper-based trading documents and will include the bill of and bills of exchange by modernising old legislation such as the Bills of Exchange Act 1882 and the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1992. It says that currently the law does not recognise the possibility of possessing electronic documents, which prevents industries going fully paperless.

The government says that removing the legal obstacle to electronic versions of trade documents will significantly lower administration costs and reduce processing times from between seven and ten days to as little as 20 seconds. It quotes the Digital Container Shipping Association as saying that if 50% cent of the container shipping industry adopted electronic bills of lading, the collective global savings would be around £3.6 billion ($4 billion) per year.

It adds that the Bill will allow businesses to choose to use electronic trade documents but does not force them to do. It will also set a vital precedent for all sectors and industries using English law as a basis for international contracts, including across the Commonwealth.

Other documents covered by the legislation included ship’s delivery orders, warehouse receipts, mate’s receipt, marine insurance policies and cargo insurance certificates.

Tags: Government