A minister said companies were expected to save £1.1 billion over 10 years through a proposed change in law that would allow greater digitization of documents used in international trade.
The Minister for Technology and the Digital Economy, Paul Sculley, said the change would put the UK “at the forefront of international trade as thought leaders”.
The Electronic Commerce Documents Bill passed the House of Commons on Monday and will now return to the House of Lords, where it has already cleared key scrutiny stages, but where peers will have the opportunity to consider amendments made by the House of Representatives.
Scully told the House of Commons: “This bill would put the UK ahead of not only the G7 countries but almost the entire world.
“The UK is laying out the approach that other jurisdictions will seek to take, not only in relation to the digitization of trade documents, but the future digitization of all trade towards which this bill is an important first step.”
He added: “This bill has global transformative potential. It will put the UK at the forefront of international trade as intellectual leaders for others to follow. It would also save business… an estimated £1.1 billion over the next 10 years.
Shadow minister Alex Davies-Jones said Labor had backed the bill as a “long overdue fix” and said paper trade documents had a “significant environmental cost”.
Conservative MP Anthony Mangnall (Totnes) said it was a “very exciting” and “very welcome” bill.
“This bill will simplify trade,” he said, adding that along with other measures taken on trade, “we are already making real progress.”
The bill follows recommendations from the Law Commission for England and Wales, and the changes introduced by the bill will apply to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with some exceptions to some clauses.
The director general of the Institute for Export and International Trade, Marco Forgione, said the bill is “a vital development for improving the efficiency and sustainability of international trade.”
“This will have a significant positive impact on the costs, duration and environmental impact of customs and border operations and an overall improvement in the cost efficiency of trade management,” he added.