After the UK introduced what the Government has described as world-leading legislation to make trading cheaper and easier for businesses, the first ever fully digitalised goods shipment landed in Singapore from Burnley on 24 September 2023.
A valve produced by Burnley-based manufacturer Fort Vale left Manchester Airport, facilitated by UK and Singapore based tech company LogChain, and has been processed entirely digitally, rather than via physical customs documents.
This follows the UK’s digital trade agreement with Singapore, which facilitated electronic trade, as well as the introduction of the UK’s Electronic Trade Documents Act (ETDA) which came into force in September 2023.
The Act made the UK the first G7 country to place electronic trade documents on the same legal footing as paper documents. It is estimated the move could generate £1.14 billion for the UK economy over the next decade.
Minister for International Trade, Nigel Huddleston, said: “Digitalised trade will make it quicker, cheaper and easier for firms to do business around the world, saving them significant sums of money. In a world where everyone pays for things digitally, it’s high time we tore up the pointless paperwork and get with the 21st century.”
The Act, giving legal status to electronic Bills of Exchange and Bills of Lading and other commercial documents, has been welcomed by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) which called on other governments to accelerate their work to digitalise border processes.
BCC Head of Trade Policy, William Bain, said: “In our Trade Manifesto, we called on the UK Government to work with business to ensure 60% of the UK’s exports are carried out digitally by the end of the decade. The whole Chamber Network has already risen to this challenge and has switched to using Digital Certificates of Origin for the UK.”
