A major US coffee trade group has launched a standard format Internet contract that will enable North American dealers to strike and execute deals online with traders in coffee producing countries worldwide. The new contract will also increase the exposure of buyers and sellers to online letters of credit (L/Cs).

The Green Coffee Association (GCA) - the body for dealers in green (unroasted) coffee - frames the most widely used coffee contract for trades between North America and the rest of the world.

Bolero architecture

The new contract is based on the electronic payment platform Bolero's Extensible Markup Language (XML) architecture, which the GCA says provides all parties in a cross-border coffee trade the ability to exchange trade data and documents, including contractual, settlement and fulfilment information, online in a secure, legally binding environment.

GCA members can now tap into the Bolero initiative's 65 published document data definitions, which the trade group claims cover 95 per cent of documents most commonly used in world trade, ranging from advance shipment notices to bills of lading and L/Cs.

In common with other proponents of electronic transaction systems, GCA anticipates that the new internet-based contract and associated facilities will make the transfer of legally binding documentation in transactions more uniform, efficient and less costly.

Taiwanese partnership

In another deal struck with a major trade body, Bolero announced in August that it had forged a partnership with Trade-Van, Taiwan's information exchange network for businesses. Almost all customs clearance in Taiwan goes through Trade-Van, which is owned by Taiwan's Ministry of Finance and eight leading corporations.

Trade-Van links all the main organisations involved in international trade in Taiwan, including banks, customs, brokers, government agencies, forwarders, warehouses, logistics companies, importers and exporters.

In addition to electronic customs clearance, the network provides customers with a range of web-based electronic-commerce, land information, insurance, finance, tax-filing and logistics services. The agreement will provide Trade-Van's 19,000 customers with the ability to connect to the Bolero System.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or any of the other partners in DC-PRO.