As the UK’s small- and medium-sized enterprises continue to look for new opportunities in the post-Brexit landscape, a new government initiative aims to streamline doing business with Europe through innovation.
The Department for Business and Trade’s Digital Trade Corridor (DTC) pilot is now open to UK small businesses that export to Germany or France.
The scheme aims to facilitate European-bound trade by teaching small businesses to replace commercial paper documents, such as traditional invoices or bills of lading, with electronic trade documents (ETDs) that are digitally signed and distributed to all concerned parties.
Ahead of attending the Berlin Global Dialogue business meeting on 23 October, Trade Minister Chris Bryant said: “Our trade strategy is clear: make trade faster, cheaper and simpler. The Digital Trade Corridors programme does exactly that, cutting costs, speeding up deliveries and opening new markets for UK businesses. It’s about driving growth and putting money back in people’s pockets.”
Encompassing multiple document types, including electronic bills of lading, e-bills of exchange and e-promissory notes, such paperless trade is estimated to reduce border waiting times by 80% and deliver operational cost savings of 30%. As well as being faster and cheaper, encrypted digital transactions are also more secure.
The DTC pilot programme – lasting eight to 12 weeks – will allow participating businesses to identify one or two export products, apply the new digital protocols, review the results and then scale up. The deadline for applications is 21 November.
The UK is among the world frontrunners in digital trade, which in 2020 accounted for over half of its exports, according to the OECD. Its 2023 Electronic Trade Documents Act – which gave digital trade documents the same legal status as paper ones – made it the first G7 nation to legislate on ETDs.
The DTC pilot aims to strengthen digital business with Europe as part of DBT’s new trade strategy announced in June. The programme will initially focus on Germany and France; its second and fifth biggest export markets respectively.
Small enterprises that wish to apply to the DTC pilot can complete an expression of interest form.