Digital connectivity and digital trade policies play a key and multifaceted role in reducing international trade costs (Lopez-Gonzalez, Sorescu and Kaynak (2023[1]); Belli, Piermartini and Rubinova (2023[2]). One important aspect is the digitalisation of trade processes and documents, which connects different actors along the supply chain and has been critical in supporting resilience in the face of emerging shocks, including, but not limited to, the COVID-19 pandemic (Sorescu and Bollig (2022[3]); UN ESCAP (2023[4]).
The process of going paperless involves moving from paper-based, analogue trade, to trade based on digitised information and processes. This helps connect different actors and enables faster and more robust traceability along the supply chain, including when products cross international borders.1 While it is widely understood and accepted that going paperless can deliver significant gains for economies and the different actors involved in trade, in practice trade processes are still at an early stage of digitalisation (International Chamber of Commerce, 2022[5]). Moreover, the potential magnitude of the benefits, and the trade policies needed to reap them across different steps of the supply chain are not well understood.
The aim of this paper is to increase the evidence base in this area with a view to enabling more informed policy discussions on going paperless. This can feed into ongoing domestic reforms as well as international initiatives such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) Work Programme on E-commerce, the WTO Joint Statement Initiative on E-commerce, digital trade provisions in regional trade agreements (RTAs), or emerging digital economy agreements (DEAs). The analysis identifies constraints that inhibit a near-term transition to paperless trade and the benefits of policy reform and coordination. The work is also important for discussions on the role of digital tools for supply chain resilience and for identifying policy challenges for going paperless to meet new regulatory requirements, including in the context of sustainability reporting.
The paper is structured as follows. The next section outlines what going paperless is and why it matters. The third section brings together insights from OECD databases (such as the Trade Facilitation Indicators (TFIs), the Index of Digital Trade Integration and Openness (INDIGO), and the Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (DSTRI)) to identify the state of play in the regulatory and policy environment needed for going paperless. It also assesses the benefits of further reforms in these areas. Section 4 then identifies how existing global and regulatory initiatives can support the realisation of these benefits. Section 5 delves into the role of a going paperless environment in the context of evolving trade-related sustainability requirements. Section 6 concludes.