Legal, Standards, Rules Frameworks
Legal
UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferrable Records (MLETR)
MLETR is the global framework for the handling of commercial trade documents in digital form.
Digital Economy and Free Trade Agreements
The UK government is negotiating modern digital trade corridors as part of its Free Trade Agreement programme. These commit trade partners to remove legal requirements to handle trade documents in paper form and align legal frameworks to MLETR. Digital trade corridors include Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. The UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement is the new global gold standard for digital trade. You can find the legal provisions in the digital chapters of these agreements. To find out more click here.
Law Tech Report on Smarter Legal Contracts
The law commission has published a comprehensive report on how English Law is ideally suited to enable the use of Smarter Legal Contracts in international trade transactions. More of the intentions of the parties to such contracts can be automated up front and better and quicker dispute resolution could be achieved.
To find out more visit: Smart contracts | Law Commission
Rules
There are a number of ICC rulebooks that relate specifically to trade digitalisation.
Uniform Rules on Digital Trade Transactions (URDTT) is the global rulebook for handling digital transactions.
Guidance on how URDTT relates to the Electronic Trade Documents Bill can be found here.
Electronic Uniform Customs Practice (eUCP) is the global rulebook for digital trade finance payments.
Electronic Uniform Rules on Collections (eURC) is the global rulebook for the handling of payment collections in the digital environment.
Guidance on the application of eUCP and eURC can be found here.
ICC Incoterms© 2020 is the global rulebook for the buying and selling of goods. Proper application of Incoterms plays a key role in reducing conflict and dispute risk.