Harmonisation of the law on electronic trade documents

Harmonisation of law on electronic trade documents has been driven by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and domestic legislation. The UNCITRAL model law and domestic legislation recognise the legal effect of electronic trade documents by applying exclusive control over the electronic documents in reliable electronic systems. However, the international rules and domestic legislation adopt different approaches in terms of the scope of trade documents, methods of determining the legal effect and the assessment of reliable systems.

Inconsistent rules across different jurisdictions remain a significant obstacle to the wider adoption of cross-border digital trade. The future development of digital trade requires interoperability among electronic trade systems.