30 September 2025 – Jamaica (Caribbean) – The Commonwealth Secretariat has launched the Commonwealth Model Law on Digital Trade, along with a comprehensive guide to enactment. This is a major step in updating trade laws and enhancing the global digital economy.

The new law aims to update trade rules, make businesses more competitive, and promote inclusive growth by helping governments adapt to a digital economy. Many current trade laws were created for a paper-based world, but today, businesses operate online and across borders in real time.

The Model Law, based on international standards set by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, offers a flexible legislative template that governments can easily customize for their needs, helping them save time and money. It establishes uniform rules for recognizing electronic communications, contracts, signatures, and digital records. Once adopted, this law will enable businesses to shift from slow, paper-based processes to quicker, more secure digital trade systems.

The launch event took place in the Caribbean along the margins of a week-long discussions focused on speeding up digital transformation and governance at the Caribbean Telecommunications Union’s ICT Week 2025.

Alignment with the Pacific E-commerce Strategy

The Model Law is closely tied to the Pacific Regional E-commerce Strategy and Roadmap (the Strategy), specifically contributing to the Strategy’s Key Priority Area 4: Legal and Regulatory Framework through creating a modern legal environment for digital trade. Both initiatives aim for reliable and interoperable systems that improve the competitiveness of Pacific economies and facilitate easy cross-border trade.

The law ensures that electronic transactions, signatures, and records are legally recognized, which aligns with the Strategy’s focus on trust and security. By establishing international standards for reliability and data protection, the law aims to build a secure digital trade ecosystem. Implementing this law is expected to increase investor confidence, lower transaction costs, and empower small businesses to compete more effectively in local and global markets.

Together, these efforts aim to create a connected and digitally empowered Pacific region, supported by strong governance and practical tools to update trade systems and enable sustainable growth in the digital economy.

According to Vashti Maharaj, an Adviser for Digital Trade Policy at the Commonwealth Secretariat, “The Model Law on Digital Trade sets the stage for stronger, more connected digital economies in the Pacific by providing legal certainty and reducing trade barriers, which can attract investment and help Pacific businesses grow.”