Reacting to news of the introduction of the Electronic Trade Documents Bill, William Bain, Head of Trade Policy at the BCC, said:

“The introduction of this bill to the UK Parliament is very much a red-letter day as it will usher in a new era of simplified on-line trading.

“It will remove export red tape, including requirements for paper or wet signatures for certain trade documents. In the current difficult economic conditions, this can only be a good thing and exporters will be hoping the Bill becomes law very soon.

“It will give legal recognition to holding electronic trading documents instead of reams of paperwork and this will ease the movement of goods from the UK across the world.

“Together with other initiatives such as Single Customs Windows being pursued by the UK, EU and others, the e-commerce negotiations at the World Trade Organisation, and modern rules on data, customs and trade facilitation in new agreements with the UK’s trading partners, this represents a real move forward on digital trade for UK exporters.

“The challenge now is to ensure firms across the UK are able to secure the real benefits of these changes.”