The UK government has announced new legislation to legalize digital trade documents, eliminating the need to hold a papered one. This points to the fact that the government has plans to establish a blockchain-based system of holding records. If this comes to life, it will change how countries keep their normal paper records safe with blockchain technology. The report claimed that the bill had already been sent to the parliament for deliberation.
The UK wants to enable the security and tracing of documents
The report mentioned that the country intends to eliminate the usage of unneeded paperwork by replacing them with digital documents that will be legalized in the country. The report clarified that making use of electronic documents will open up the possibility of increasing security and making compliance easy.
This also means that tracing and checking for legitimate records will be easier than using paper documents. However, international trade requires holders of a business to own a physical copy that can be presented to authorities when they need it to carry out their activities. This means that upon the sale or transfer of a business, it can be given to the new owner to present when needed.
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In the report, one of the protagonists of the bull highlighted the benefits of switching to an electronic means of documentation. Some benefits included eliminating about 10% of the carbon emission and drastically reducing the time used to process physical documents. In context, the UK processes more than 28 billion papers used for trade documents every day. If the law is implemented, it will enable business owners to hold on to their electronic documents across all sectors of the economy. Some of the documents that could end up going electronic, which were listed in the report, included warehouse receipts, and promissory notes, among other documents in the UK.
After the bill was introduced to the House of Lords, the authors were asked to print them in papers after it went through the first reading. The UK has been facing a little bit of a problem following the installation of the new UK prime minister. The country’s currency saw a bearish turn after a tax cut plan was announced some months ago. However, the same tax cut has been scrapped by the UK government. The new UK prime minister has also welcomed the use of digital assets so that their potential will be used well.