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Geoffrey Wynne, partner and head of Sullivan’s Trade and Export Finance Practice, has authored the Foreword to the legal section of the 2023-24 Global Trade Review (GTR) Directory, titled: "Trade Finance in the Digital World – What Changes are Likely in the Coming Months and Years?"

The article looks at how much has been written about how the need to digitise trade transactions, to reduce the use of paper, increase speed and efficiency, together with the availability of ‘tech tools’ and the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI), can all be said to be driving changes in law to facilitate digitalisation.

This began with MLETR (the Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records) the prominence of which was accelerated by the pandemic and now by the adoption of, and support for, the Electronic Trade Documents Act (ETDA) in the UK. This, it is anticipated, will be followed by its equivalent in France and possibly other EU countries and by states in the U.S. permitting changes to their own UCC (Uniform Commercial Code).

The foreword looks at:

  • What does all this mean in practice – at least under English law?
  • What is holding us back?
  • Are there limits to the full digitalisation of trade transactions?

The article is reproduced with permission of the publisher and can be accessed here.

For further information about the digitalisation of trade and trade finance, please contact Geoffrey Wynne on gwynne@sullivanlaw.com or your usual Sullivan contact.