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Singapore Leads World’s First Cross-Border ETR Trade

Singapore is pushing the boundaries of digitalisation for global trade, as the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) collaborated with industry players to successfully execute a live shipment from Singapore to Thailand during the first quarter of 2023.

Using Singapore’s TradeTrust framework, this fully paperless, live cross-border trade involved the use of Electronic Transferable Records (ETR), which are functionally equivalent to paper Bills of Lading (BL).

TradeTrust, developed by IMDA, was created to address the challenges of paper-based cross-border trades by leveraging international standards and frameworks and leveraging blockchain-powered technology to enable the digitalisation of transferable documents into ETR.

The IMDA TradeTrust framework harmonises the legal recognition of digital documentation among jurisdictions that have adopted the Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (MLETR) of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

Loh Sin Yong, Director of TradeTrust at IMDA, stated that Singapore has endeavoured to reshape, reimagine, and redefine global trade since 2019. The international trade ecosystem profoundly relies on physical paper records and signatures for validation.

The live transaction for the shipment of liquid chemicals from Singapore to Thailand utilises the TradeTrust framework to generate an electronic Bill of Lading (eBL) that complies with UNCITRAL’s MLETR statutory law framework, he added.

Besides, they are thrilled to have demonstrated that the industry could potentially use eBL even in the absence of a contractual legal framework, as they believe this will encourage the widespread adoption of eBL in international trade.

A shipper, a TradeTrust-enabled digital platform provider, and a vessel owner supported by their Protection & Indemnity (P&I) Club participated in the world’s first ETR cross-border trade.

The TradeTrust-enabled digital platform provider has developed a digital solution to support the key logistics documentation processes for cross-border liquid chemical trade involving multiple parties, such as a surveyor and customs broker.

The use of TradeTrust has vested the digitalisation of the transfer of ownership title, issuance and surrender of the ETR as an eBL across multiple systems and stakeholders, in compliance with the UNCITRAL MLETR.

The shipment was made using the following methods:

  1. The liquid chemicals were dispatched from Singapore to Thailand by the shipper.
  2. Using a TradeTrust-enabled digital platform, the vessel issued an eBL.
  3. The use of Marine Vessel Pass has resulted in the creation of Digital Passports for Ships on the eBL, ensuring that the digital identity used in signing was onboarded and verified.
  4. The eBL was then surrendered on the TradeTrust Reference Implementation, demonstrating interoperability across multiple systems without the need for the development of inter-system connectivity protocols such as APIs. It also enabled digital and paper-based processes to communicate with one another.
  5. Their Protection and Indemnity (P&I) Club supported the vessel on the basis that the P&I liabilities arising from the use of a TradeTrust-issued eBL are equivalent to the liabilities that could have arisen from the use of a paper-based Bill of Lading.
  6. The eBL was legally supported solely by statutory law, with no contract law or rulebook used. This shipment demonstrated the utility of an eBL issued under the TradeTrust framework in a non-MLETR jurisdiction such as Thailand.

By streamlining and automating existing processes, the implementation of eBLs has increased productivity. The advantages include shorter wait times and lower costs. This pilot builds on industry collaboration to encourage the use of ETRs and facilitate cross-border trade.

ETRs can be issued, transferred, and surrendered in a trusted manner across different digital platforms using the TradeTrust framework, which is required in the context of cross-border trade.

PARTNER

Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

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CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

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Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

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SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

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HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

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IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

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