ITC Webinar: Making Cross-Border Commercial e-Transactions Flow: Focus on the Contracting Stage

Digitalizing the contracting stage of cross-border electronic transactions is both reasonable and necessary, especially given similar developments in other segments of international value chains such as logistics, customs clearance, and payments. However, this opportunity remains largely untapped. 

While international and regional rulemaking has established high-level rules bridging the gap between paper-based and electronic transactions, encouraging their cross-border flow, there is still a lack of alignment in national legal regimes. Such regimes set varied legal and technical requirements for eIDs, electronic signatures, and other trust services, and fail to establish mutual recognition arrangements. 

In the face of these challenges and a general lack of understanding of digital technology and its added benefits compared to paper, private sector stakeholders, and most notably MSMEs, remain hesitant to fully embrace electronic documentary turnover.  

Based on the dedicated working paper drafted by the ITC (https://shorturl.at/FE0zZ), and feedback thereon shared by the interveners, the webinar will offer a comprehensive mapping of multidisciplinary concerns related to digitalization of the contracting stage of cross-border electronic transactions, systemize open questions and present policy recommendations to address them.