Trace Labs and BSI develop new solution for cross-border food transfers as UK adopts Electronic Trade Documents Bill

LONDON, July 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- United Kingdom adopts the Electronic Trade Documents Bill as Trace Labs, core developers of OriginTrail open-source technology, and British Standards Institution (BSI), the business improvement and standards company established under Royal Charter, release a new solution developed for cross-border food transfers.

In an effort to streamline international trade and enhance efficiency, the United Kingdom has taken a significant step forward by adopting the Electronic Trade Documents Bill. On July 20, 2023, the Electronic Trade Documents Bill (ETDB) received Royal Assent, and is officially an act of law (now the Electronic Trade Documents Act), promising to transform the way international trade is conducted electronically. This pivotal legislation seeks to digitize trade documents, eliminating cumbersome paperwork and facilitating seamless cross-border transactions.

The Electronic Trade Documents Bill marks a milestone in the modernization of global trade practices. With this landmark legislation, the UK aims to harness the power of technology to revolutionize the way trade documents are processed, ensuring quicker turnaround times, reduced costs, and improved security.

This groundbreaking act holds immense potential for businesses engaged in international trade, as it replaces traditional paper-based documentation with secure electronic trade documents. Additionally, it enables the use of digital signatures and advanced encryption technology, ensuring the authenticity and integrity of trade documents.

Parallelly, in response to the growing demands of cross-border food transfers, Trace Labs, core developers of OriginTrail Decentralized Knowledge Graph (DKG for short), in collaboration with BSI, the business improvement and standards company established under Royal Charter, are pioneering an innovative solution that promises to revolutionize the industry. This new solution has been developed utilizing cutting-edge technology and industry expertise to address the complexities associated with international food transfers.

The solution is a direct result of the two-year 'Trusted Bytes' project launched as part of The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund's  'Manufacturing Made Smarter Challenge'. To support the smoother flow of food products into and out of the UK, BSI used its broad experience to develop a standards-based operating model for the Trusted Bytes Data Trust framework. The model is designed to make it much easier for all parties to source and confirm information about products and ensure compliance, streamlining the processes for border-crossing.

As part of the project, BSI helped to build the framework by combining the benefits of traditional standards with emerging supply chain standards and innovative technologies such as OriginTrail DKG - the open source software developed by Trace Labs. This approach demonstrates how standards can be leveraged to support future technologies that promote data sharing, enabling users to verify information provenance across industry stakeholders, government agencies, and regulators for seamless and secure international trade. Prior work on data trust led by the University of Lincoln supported this activity.

BSI and Trace Labs also developed the advanced Trusted Trader framework, which showcases the future of trade compliance, assurance, and risk assessment, building on the globally recognized Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) scheme. The framework transforms supply chain data into discoverable, verifiable, and AI-ready Knowledge Assets. This enables UK customs to assess risk levels associated with incoming shipments in real-time from the departure right up until the arrival on UK soil, with the potential to make customs processes more focused and efficient. Technology enabled by SecureSystem Gmbh and Contained Technologies supported BSI and Trace Labs in showcasing this Trusted Trader demonstrator.

The project also focused on enabling a trusted data exchange to connect the supply chain with central government and other critical partners, enhancing cross border facilitation, compliance, and security. The framework, developed within Trusted Bytes, is reusable and can be deployed by government agencies globally to help infuse trust and transparency into their cross-border processes.

Jurij Skornik, Trace Labs' General Manager: "With the King signing off on the Electronic Trade Documents Bill (ETDB), businesses can now utilize electronic trade documents, laying a robust foundation for improving trade sustainability, increasing trade value, and enabling AI-powered trade solutions. The criteria set out in the bill are perfectly aligned with the logic of OriginTrail Knowledge Assets that can provide discoverability, ownership, and verifiability to any trade document - all backed by blockchain.

Supported by Innovate UK, Trace Labs already worked with BSI, SecureSystem, and other partners on a solution to facilitate international trade in the UK, using OriginTrail Knowledge Assets and the same principles as set out in the bill. This solution turns paper trade documents such as CMR and Bill of Lading into Knowledge Assets on OriginTrail DKG, giving them ownership (transferability) and verifiability. This provides an easy and trusted way for UK customs to assess the risk of a shipment based on trusted and verifiable trade documents and data. It also sets a strong foundation for AI-powered search of trade data based on OriginTrail trusted knowledge infrastructure, which will be available soon."

About Trace Labs:

Trace Labs is the core developer of OriginTrail — the open source Decentralized Knowledge Graph. Its technology is being used by global enterprises (e.g. over 40% of US imports including Walmart, Costco, Home Depot are exchanging security audits with OriginTrail DKG) in multiple industries, such as pharmaceutical industry, international trade, decentralized applications, constructions and more.

About OriginTrail:

OriginTrail is an ecosystem dedicated to making the global economy work sustainably by enabling a universe of AI-ready Knowledge Assets, allowing anyone to take part in trusted knowledge sharing. It leverages the open source Decentralized Knowledge Graph that connects physical and digital worlds in a single connected reality driving transparency and trust. Advanced knowledge graph technology currently powers trillion-dollar companies like Google and Facebook. By reshaping it for Web3, the OriginTrail Decentralized Knowledge Graph provides a crucial fabric to link, verify, and value data on both physical and digital assets.

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