Stephen Harwood : An introduction to TradeTrust and the laws governing electronic bills of lading

27 SEP 2023

The September 2023 edition of Commodities in Focus Weekly by Stephenson Harwood featured TradeTrust and the legal regulations surrounding electronic bills of lading. The article offers a comprehensive analysis of the legal and practical aspects of the TradeTrust framework and 'TradeTrust-enabled eBLs' (TT eBLs), including:

  • a user-friendly analysis of the key technical features of TradeTrust which allow TT eBLs to achieve 'technical interoperability'; and

  • an overview of how TT eBLs comply with the legal requirements for eBLs under the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (MLETR) and Singapore, English and US law ('legal interoperability'). These laws, including Singapore's Electronic Transactions Act 2010 and the long-awaited UK Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023 which took effect on 20 September 2023, plug an important gap in the legal landscape: the legal recognition of electronic versions of negotiable trade documents (including eBLs) as equivalent to their paper counterparts

See more on Stephenson Harwood's official website.