Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of data, technology, and market infrastructure, today announced that its ICE CargoDocs Local Law electronic bill of lading solution has received approval by global shipping insurance body, the International Group of Protection & Indemnity Clubs (IG P&I), helping accelerate ICE’s work to replace paper-based trade delivery documentation with electronic documents.
IG P&I represents the 12 Clubs providing marine liability cover for 90% of the world’s ocean-shipped tonnage. The approval coincides with the U.K. and Singapore, two critical shipping jurisdictions, recently changing their laws to recognize electronic bills of lading as the legal equivalent of paper, giving commodity trade participants certainty that electronic bills of lading governed by U.K. and Singapore law are now recognized in those jurisdictions.
“The approval by IG P&I means ICE is now able to immediately issue electronic bills of lading under U.K. and Singapore law, as well as self-certify our compliance with any newly enacted country-specific local law recognizing electronic bills of lading as the legal equivalent of paper, marking a significant milestone in our work to transform analog, paper-based industries into a fully digital global trade ecosystem,” said David Farrell, Chief Operating Officer at ICE Futures U.S.
“ICE CargoDocs Local Law electronic bill of lading solution represents the industry’s first truly scalable system to enable electronic trade documents, and incoming legislation such as what we have seen adopted in the U.K. and Singapore, will help support the adoption of electronic documents by a wider group of users around the world,” Farrell continued.
ICE CargoDocs enables physical trade and supply chain participants to digitize the entire lifecycle of key title and supporting documents used in domestic and international trade and trade finance. ICE CargoDocs is provided by ICE Digital Trade which digitizes complex, fragmented, and paper-based processes, bringing increased transparency and collaboration across the many different participants involved in the physical delivery of commodities.
For more information, please visit: https://www.ice.com/digital-trade or contact Sales-ICEDigitalTrade@ice.com.
