Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the transmission of COVID-19 by reducing the use of paper in supply chains; and whether the regulations on (1) e-signatures, and (2) e-transactions, apply to every aspect of a supply chain.

According to the World Health Organisation, the likelihood of an infected person contaminating commercial goods is low and the risk of catching the virus that causes COVID-19 from a package, including paper package, that has been moved, travelled, and exposed to different conditions and temperate is also low.

The Government has endorsed the conclusions reached in the Law Commission’s report Electronic Execution of Documents that the existing legal framework in England and Wales makes clear that businesses and individuals can feel confident in using e-signatures in commercial transactions.