Last week, together with seven leading Swedish business organisations, a comprehensive legislative proposal was submitted to Minister for Justice Gunnar Strömmer to ensure that electronic trade documents are granted the same legal status as paper originals. The proposal addresses a critical barrier that currently prevents Swedish companies from fully digitalising their international trade processes.
On the same day, a debate article authored by Trade Partners Sweden was published in Dagens industri, highlighting why this reform is so urgent. Despite the technology having been available for a long time, outdated legislation continues to hold Sweden back, while major trading partners such as the United Kingdom, France, the United States and Singapore have already modernised their regulatory frameworks.
Today, an average international trade transaction requires 36 documents in 240 copies, and as recently as 2022, as much as 99 per cent of the world’s trade documents were still paper-based. A new UN study shows that full digitalisation could:
Digital trade documents would shorten lead times, reduce administrative burdens, strengthen competitiveness, facilitate international trade for small and medium-sized enterprises, and lower emissions, while enabling banks, shipping companies and public authorities to operate far more efficiently.
The debate article calls on the government to implement a simple but decisive legislative change to unlock these benefits. The proposal and supporting analysis are already in place; what is missing is the political will.
Read the debate article here
Read more about the legislative proposal here