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Following passage of the UK’s Electronic Trade Documents Act (ETD Act) in July 2023, David Meynell, Digital Rules Advisor to the ICC Centre for Digital Trade and Innovation (C4DTI), has produced an update to a 2022 paper comparing provisions enshrined in the ETD Act’s seven clauses with corresponding content in the UN Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (MLETR), the ICC Uniform Rules for Digital Trade Transactions (URDTT), the electronic supplement to UCP (eUCP), and the electronic supplement to URC (eURC).
The paper, “From a Bill to an Act: The Electronic Trade Documents Act (2023)”, outlines the synergy between the ETD Act and MLETR as key foundations for digital trade and the compatible framework offered by practice rules – the ICC Digital Rules – for handling electronic trade documents.
Understandably, a large segment of the 33-page paper examines aspects of ETD Act Clause 2 (Definition of “electronic trade document”) and corresponding treatment in MLETR, URDTT, and the ICC eRules. In certain areas, portions of ETD Act clauses do not apply or are not directly relevant to MLETR, URDTT, and/or the ICC eRules. These are usefully pointed out.
The paper also addresses certain provisions not explicitly contained in the ETD Act, including: “in writing” requirements; signing requirements; time and place indications, the concept of original electronic trade documents; amendment; and accreditation of a reliable system for ETDs.
Although there was necessarily a first mover for crafting mechanisms to accommodate electronic trade, the initiatives addressed in this paper were not constructed in isolation but rather in harmonization with each other. For instance, the original aim of the ICC eRules was to align definitions with those used in local law, but the eRules’ definitions were subsequently adjusted to track the approach taken in MLETR.
As Meynell notes in his brief concluding remarks, there is a functional equivalence between the ETD Act and MLETR and the two are sufficiently aligned in order to ensure compatibility. Likewise, the ICC Digital Rules will be constantly monitored and evaluated against MLETR and other relevant legal constructs to ensure ongoing alignment.
- ICC United Kingdom 20 July 2023