Invitation to LSLC’s event: The Electronic Trade Documents Act: possession, reliability and international legal harmony

ITFA, in association with the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London, invites its members and other commercial professionals to attend the 3^rd hybrid event in its autumn 2023 programme, titled ‘The Electronic Trade Documents Act: possession, reliability and international legal harmony’. 

Event details:

Date: Tuesday 24^th October 2023
Time: 6.30pm to 8.00pm
Venue: Centre for Commercial Law Studies,Queen Mary University of London, 67-69 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3JB

This seminar will take a closer look at the Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023 which came into force on 20^th September and intends to provide a framework for digitalisation of trade documents, possession of which is necessary for the holder to exercise certain rights.

The Act has sought to overcome the “possession problem”, i.e. the common law position that only tangibles are possessable. It sets out the criteria that need to be met by means of a “reliable system” to make electronic documents possessable. In recognition of the importance of harmonisation in this field, the Law Commission aimed for consistency with UNCITRAL’s Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records 2017. The discussion will engage with the following issues:

• The objectives of the Act and the challenges of solving the possession problem.
• The importance of the reliability requirement and, in particular, lessons learnt from the Horizon case.
• The importance of the Act for Trade and Supply Chain Finance.
• How the Act’s central provisions compare to those of UNCITRAL’s MLETR and the   importance of worldwide harmonisation in this field.
• Will there be widespread adoption of electronic documents?
• The task of getting the industry to use electronic documents

Moderator:

• The Right Hon. The Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd

Panellists: 

• The Hon. Mr Justice Peter Fraser – Royal Courts of Justice
• Professor Miriam Goldby – Queen Mary University
• Professor Sarah Green – The Law Commission
• Sean Edwards – Chairman, International Trade and Forfaiting Association

Register here

The Drinks Reception for in-person delegates which follows this seminar is kindly sponsored by the CCLS.