G7 Announcement

Updated: Oct 7, 2022

At the recent G7 conference leaders there released their Framework for G7 Collaboration on Electronic Transferable Records.

It outlines the country’s new push to move towards complete digitization of export documentation. The new position and document makes it clear the G7 intends to promptly remove barriers to digitizing trade documents. It calls on all member countries to immediately begin identifying legal barriers to digitization and establish actions to address these barriers.

Digitization of trade documents has made significant global progress but the largest barrier faced is to ensure full digitization of the entire document set. Having several digital documents alongside a physically issued certificate of origin or bill of lading ultimately means document approval will be held back. Essentially, digitization can be held back by the weakest link in the document set. The move to ensure options exist and barriers are removed for all involved documents ensures that exporters and importers will be able to reap the full benefits of digitization.

The benefits of moving to digitization will push involved parties to move fast. Chris Southworth at the International Chamber of Commerce outlined that “Industry now have 12 to 18 months to prepare, because once those legal barriers are removed, the market is going to move extremely quickly because as the business case sets out, the economic driver is enormous.” He added, “if companies are not prepared, they are going to get left behind, and those that have prepared are going to have a huge competitive advantage and be able to sweep away all the bureaucracy and costs that are dragging on everyone’s businesses.”

The AWTCC has been working towards digitization for years with their program to electronically issue certificates of origin, stamped invoices, and other key documents.

AWTCC stands with the ICC in support of the G7’s commitment to move towards digitization. The AWTCC continues to promote and aid in the growth other United States’ export industry and recognizes the need to move towards digitization to support that growth.

The AWTCC welcomes this change and is eager to assist exporters across the United States.

To review more on the ICC’s position please visit here.