White Paper | Transfer of Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records Compliant Titles

01 SEP 2023

UN/CEFACT White Paper on Transfer of Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records - Compliant Titles.

This White Paper explains the key requirements laid out in the MLETR that an electronic record must satisfy to be an ETR so that its legal validity is preserved even when used across international borders through achieving the same legal effects as are achieved by use of its paper counterpart. These are the requirements of writing and signature, integrity, singularity, exclusive control to preclude double-spending, delivery and endorsement. The MLETR also provides for changes of medium where required.

Read more about TradeTrust in the technical guidance appendix which is designed to support implementers with detailed technical information:

TradeTrust

Singapore developed TradeTrust (see https://www.tradetrust.io) which is an open framework adapted for global trade practices to help the typically long chain of business partners achieve the ultimate objective of fully digitalising their business processes even across borders through being able to cater for both normal documents and transferable documents like Bills of Lading. Given the complexities of cross-border trade, success requires a multi-prong and holistic approach. The technology underpinnings of TradeTrust are provided by OpenAttestation (see https://www.openattestation.com) to enable documents issued with this technology to be cryptographically trustworthy and able to be verified independently, as well as being able to effect title transfers through ETRs. OpenAttestation has been registered as a Digital Public Good with the Digital Public Goods Alliance (see https://digitalpublicgoods.net). Atop this freely-available, open-source technology, TradeTrust adds aspects such as acceptance by the global trade community and governments on the methods of document digitalisation as well as alignment on policy stances through Government-level arrangements such as Digital Economy Agreements. These efforts have resulted in the following features being implemented:

  • The Title Transfer feature supports electronic transferable records and is designed to be compliant to the requirements laid out in the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (2017).

  • The Decentralised document rendering protocol enables users to choose their own document schema format, and to customise the look and feel of the trade documents produced.

  • Selective Redaction provides a convenient method for intermediaries in the supply chain to hide sensitive data, which is critical for some use cases in the trade and traceability domains.

  • The QR Code feature enables users to choose using paper or digital workflows, depending on their circumstances thus allowing issuers to execute digitalisation with minimal dependency on verifier technical capabilities.

The UN/CEFACT repository https://github.com/uncefact/spec-tradetrust provides additional guidance on the effective use of TradeTrust.

Download the full white paper on the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE's) official website.