As advised by the ICC Banking Commission in its press release of 6 June 2017, the "Digitalisation of Trade Finance Working Group" has now been launched.
The working group's core activities are threefold:
1) "E-compability" of ICC rules for trade finance The group will evaluate ICC rules, such as the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCP), in order to assess e-compatibility and ensure they are "e-compliant. This will enable banks to accept data rather than documents.
2) Standards. In order to remove uncertainty in the industry and accelerate the uptake of digitalisation, the group will develop a set of minimum standards for the digital connectivity of service providers - particularly across legal, liability, information security and technology.
3) Legal status. The group will examine the legal and practical issues related to the validity and value of data and documents in digitised form. For instance, it will conduct a legal survey to understand how the rights of third parties compare under paper and electronic Bills of Lading (eB/Ls).
Dave Meynell and Gary Collyer are co-chairing the e-compatibility sub-working group: we will share updates as and when appropriate.
As a first step, members of the ‘e-compatibility' working group have been asked to comment on a review of all existing ICC rules in respect of digital data.
Once this review is completed, next steps can be agreed as to which rules need to be reviewed and updated.