The U.K. government recently passed a bill that could lead to the adoption of blockchain technology for storing documents. To increase the likelihood of adopting blockchain technology to trace records, members of the UK House of Lords have proposed legislation to do away with the necessity for paper trade documentation.
The House of Lords on Wednesday adopted the Electronic Trade Documents Bill, which will make electronic documentation lawful in an effort to cut carbon emissions by at least 10%.
The legislation proposed removing “needless paperwork and bureaucracy” by making digital documentation legally recognized for trade.
“The U.K. was central to establishing the international trade system in the nineteenth century and we are once again leading the world to boost global trade in the twenty-first century” U.K. Digital Secretary Michelle Donelan said in the release.
If passed, the bill will permit companies to send electronic copies of papers such as delivery orders from ships, cargo insurance certificates, warehouse receipts, and promissory notes.
“International trade still relies to a large extent on a special category of trade document which is dependent on being physically possessed by a person, and transferred over to another person” said the government.
The administration stated that it intends to go “paperless” when dealing with official documents. The announcement stated that using blockchain and distributed ledger technology could make it easier to trace electronic documents, which inturn will also boost security.
