Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential economic growth generated by the full utilisation of the Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023, and what steps they are taking to fully utilise that Act.

The Electronic Trade Documents Act’s Impact Assessment estimates that electronic trade documents (ETDs) could generate £1.1bn over a decade by reducing trade costs, accelerating transactions, and improving access to trade finance, particularly for SMEs.

To support ETD uptake, we have recently launched several initiatives in the Trade Strategy. This includes plans to establish Digital Trade Corridors with key European markets, setting up an SME Capability Programme to help smaller firms adopt digital trade tools, and launching an ETD Information Hub on Business.Gov.UK to support businesses transition. We are also promoting international legal reform on ETDs through bilateral and multilateral engagement.