ASIA PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION
TRANSPORTATION WORKING GROUP
FOURTEENTH MEETING – SEOUL, KOREA

OCTOBER 1998

TRANSPORTATION ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
Requirements for Paper Documents

Submitted by Australia

September 1998

 Agenda Item

To consider measures to accelerate the process of removing requirements for paper documents and recognising electronic alternatives for the key documents relevant to international sea and air freight.

BACKGROUND

At the 8th APEC Transportation Working Group (TPT-WG) in September 1995, it was agreed:

"that as soon as practicable within the next ten years, member economies should seek to eliminate the requirement for paper documents (both regulatory and institutional) for the key messages relevant to international sea and air transport and trade."

At the 12^th meeting of the TPT-WG in October 1997, Australia tabled an updated report (TPT/WG12/PLEN/7.2B) on requirements for paper documents in APEC economies. A summary of the latest information available is included in Attachment A to this paper.

General

At the October 1997 meeting member economies agreed to the following :

1. Note that legislation relevant to requirements for paper documents is likely to be administered in portfolios other than transport (eg. with portfolios dealing with Customs, and trade and commerce laws).
2. In light of point 1 above, TPT-WG members should, where appropriate, approach the relevant portfolios in their own economies for assistance in removing requirements for paper documents covering international trade and transport, where satisfactory facilities for transmitting documents in electronic form can be made available.
3. Within the next twelve months, APEC economies should endeavour to prepare a program of actions aimed at removing, as soon as practicable but no later than the year 2005, requirements for paper documents (both regulatory and institutional) for the key messages relevant to international sea and air freight. This is consistent with the agreements reached at the TPT-WG’s 8th meeting in September 1995.
4. A copy of this paper (TPT-WG12/PLEN/7.2B), together with the position agreed by TPT-WG, should be transmitted to the APEC Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI) with a request that they assist where possible in achieving the outcome referred to in recommendation 3 above. In considering this issue, CTI should be asked to consider including Electronic Commerce commitments in economies Individual Action Plans (IAPs).
5. Australia will prepare a paper for the 13^th TPT-WG meeting on the need to survey member economies for information on the state of implementation of EDIFACT Messages in the Trade and Transportation chain ie. BAPLIE, CUSDEC, CUSCAR, POA. The information is required to support efforts to improve the rate of implementation.
6. The TPT-WG ask the CTI to give consideration to identifying the documentary flows in the related trade and financial cycles and to identifying limitations on, and barriers to, the use of electronic commerce in those cycles. TPT-WG could ask the CTI to consider adopting a similar commitment to address those barriers. This would then enable the TPT-WG to focus upon the impediments within the transport cycle.
7. The TPT-WG consider asking CTI to involve the Business Advisory Council which may have significant information and views on this matter in the above task.

At the 13^th meeting in Mexico City in April 1998, the TPT-WG agreed to develop a collective action plan to promote the take up of electronic commerce in member economies. The purpose of the collective action plan is to identify action priorities, which will provide further impetus to electronic commerce work in the TPT-WG as well as meet the specific needs of economies.

Australia is proposing to incorporate points 1, 2, and 3 agreed at TPT-WG 12, into the collective action plan. It is also proposed that the TPT-WG work together with the Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures (SCCP). Under this program of co-operation it is envisaged that TPT-WG members in each economy will work together with their SCCP contacts. Please refer to paper on draft collective action plan.

With regard to points 4, 6, and 7, on 16 December 1997 Australia wrote to the Chair of the CTI. A reminder was sent to the Secretary of the CTI on 14 August 1998. Australia has now received a response from the CTI which states that this matter would be most appropriately handled by the SCCP, which is already involved in an extensive work program on electronic commerce. Australia will be writing to the SCCP Chair to seek advice on the CTI decision.

On point 5 it was recommended at TPT-WG 13 that members postpone a decision on the need for a survey for information on the state of implementation of EDIFACT messages in the trade and transportation chain. Further details on this point can be found under the section 'Survey for information on the state of implementation of EDIFACT messages' on page 8 of the paper prepared by Australia for TPT-WG13 titled "Proposed TPT-WG contribution to SOM Electronic Commerce Task Force Work Program".

Bill of Lading Issue

From Attachment A it appears that the acceptance of the Bill of Lading in electronic form is a problem common to most economies. In this regard, it should be noted that considerable effort and funds are being expended in Europe on the issue of handling the Bill of Lading within an environment of electronic commerce. This is being done under a project known as Bolero, and APEC economies may wish to keep abreast of progress made on that project.

Legal Aspects of Electronic Commerce

To assist Australian industry in dealing with the legal aspects of electronic commerce, in July 1997 the Australian Government established an advisory group to consider the legal issues arising from the development of electronic commerce. Membership of the group included representatives from industry associations, business, the legal profession and government. The group’s report, "Electronic Commerce: Building the Legal Framework", was completed in March 1998.

The group focuses on a number of key objectives, including:

• the need to increase the overall efficiency of electronic commerce transactions;
• the need to resolve the legal uncertainties which are often cited as an impediment to the adoption of electronic commerce; and
• the appropriate means of updating the law to take account of technological change.

Cognisant of the need to consider legal infrastructure issues in an international context, the group reviewed developments in the regulation of electronic commerce in a number of overseas jurisdictions, both as they relate to adoption of UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce and to issues of electronic signatures.

A Copy of this report can be found on the Internet at: http://law.gov.au/aghome/advisory/eceg/ecegreport.html

The UNCITRAL Model Law can be found at: http://www.un.or.at/uncitral/english/texts/electcom/index.htm. If you experience a problem with this address, go into http://www.un.or.at/ and find your way to the Model Law.

RECOMMENDATIONS

It is recommended that member economies agree to the following :

1. Points 1, 2, and 3 (on page 1), agreed at TPT-WG12 be incorporated into the collective action plan.
2. The SCCP and TPT-WG work together to address the issue of requirements for paper documents.

This page was last updated on 10 Aug, 2006