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Project Title

Workshop on Building an Eco-system Friendly for Application of Electronic Bill of Lading

Project Year

2024

Project Number

CTI_204_2024A

Project Session

Session 2

Project Type

Standard

Project Status

Project in Implementation
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Project No.

CTI_204_2024A

Project Title

*
Workshop on Building an Eco-system Friendly for Application of Electronic Bill of Lading

Project Status

Project in Implementation

Fund Account

*
APEC Support Fund

Sub-fund

ASF: APEC Supply Chain Connectivity

Project Year

2024

Project Session

*
Session 2

APEC Funding

110,000

Co-funding Amount

0

Total Project Value

110,000

Sponsoring Forum

*
Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI)

Topics

Green Economy; Infrastructure; Trade Facilitation

Committee

Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI)

Other Fora Involved

Digital Economy Steering Group (DESG)

Other Non-APEC Stakeholders Involved

 

Proposing Economy(ies)

China; Peru

Co-Sponsoring Economies

Singapore; Thailand

Expected Start Date

01/03/2025

Expected Completion Date

30/06/2026

Project Proponent Name 1

Yu Miao

Job Title 1

Director

Organization 1

Ministry of Commerce of People's Republic of China

Telephone 1

861065197708

Email 1

yumiao@mofcom.gov.cn

Project Proponent Name 2

Not Applicable

Job Title 2

Not Applicable

Organization 2

Not Applicable

Telephone 2

Not Applicable

Email 2

Not Applicable

Declaration

Yu Miao

Project Summary

As digital tools become increasingly available to streamline processes, more and more APEC members have realized the significance of digitalizing the bill of lading to advance trade facilitation. At present, the electronic bill of lading has become an important measure to reduce the costs of enterprises, advance trade facilitation, maintain open supply chains and strengthen the APEC economic integration in the region.

2024 APEC host Peru has scheduled to host an SCCP-led workshop in August to discuss the benefits and challenges of the implementation of an Electronic Bill of Lading in APEC economies. 

This project, as follow-up, is aimed to address challenges and problems brought up in the aforementioned project and will hold a one-day workshop in person and online way with co-sponsors, interested economies and enterprises to share the current landscape and the practice cases of electronic bills of lading. The workshop is aimed to incubate the eco-system of the application of electronic bill of lading, including avenues for encouraging government agencies to accept electronic bills of lading when companies choose to use them. Stakeholders involving in electronic bill of lading, such as sellers and buyers in transaction, electronic bill of lading platform, carriers, banks and customs authorities will be invited to discuss how to promote the development and cooperation in this area. The Workshop will be held during SOM 1 2025. After the workshop, a summary report will be formed, which will take stock of the development and application of electronic bills of lading in APEC members, how it might advance trade facilitation as well as any challenges, and catalog the existing acceptance of electronic bills of lading by government agencies within APEC region.

Relevance

Region

With the development of digitalization process, foreign trade enterprises, shipping companies, etc., use electronic bills of lading to improve customs clearance and logistics efficiency. More and more APEC members have realized the significance of digitalizing the bill of lading to advance the trade facilitation. The project seeks to review the development and application of electronic bills of lading in APEC members, how it might advance trade facilitation and digitalisation as well as any challenges.

The project will also gather information on cases where government agencies in APEC require the submission of a bill of lading for regulatory reasons, and are able to utilize electronic bills of lading, what challenges they’ve had to face, and what benefits they gain from electronic processing. In addition, through the use of electronic bills of lading, better promote integration in the region. 

Some electronic bill of lading products are already operating in APEC economies. The results of the workshop and a set of cases will be part of a project summary report. It is expected that the outcomes of this project will serve as basis for activities regarding the promotion of the use of electronic bills of lading, as well as enhancing interoperability of legal framework and technical standards in the APEC Region.

Eligibility and Fund Priorities
According with the APEC Project Funding Sources, this Project is in line with the Sub- Fund on Supply Chain Connectivity which supports projects related to improving supply chain performance. The objective is to support developing economies to overcome the specific obstacles they face in enhancing supply chain performance. The project is eligible to this fund, because it contributes to implement the principle: to meet the objective of a 10% improvement in supply chain performance and yield reductions of time, cost, and uncertainty of moving goods and services through the region, related to that goal, improving transparency in the logistic supply chain.

Capacity Building

This project will provide capacity building for APEC economies in the short, medium and long term. The economies and stakeholders will have the opportunity to obtain information on the development and application of electronic bills of lading, as well as the acceptance and utilization of electronic bills of lading by government agencies in APEC members. The Workshop involved in the project will invite representatives from the government and enterprises to share their experience of electronic bills of lading, how it might advance trade facilitation and digitalisation as well as any challenges.

Another outcome of the project will be a project summary report that will examine the existing practices within APEC region and study how to promote the widespread use of electronic bills of lading. It will benefit all member economies, especially developing members, as a useful reference, by helping them to draw experience from the practice of other economies, and increasing their awareness of the opportunities and risks involved in promoting electronic bills of lading.

Objectives

- Review the development and application of electronic bills of lading in APEC members, how it might advance trade facilitation as well as any challenges.

- Gather information on the practices and cases of electronic bills of lading acceptance by government agencies of APEC members, in situations where the submission of a bill of lading is required for regulatory purposes.

- Enhance understanding of electronic bills of lading, with a view to building an eco-system that is friendly for its application, and better promote the use of electronic bills of lading.

Alignment

APEC

The project aligns with the Third Phase of the APEC’s Supply Chain Connectivity Framework Action Plan (SCFAP III), in particular with the following overarching goal: “To support our businesses in building secure, resilient, sustainable and open supply chains that create a predictable, competitive and digitally interconnected Asia-Pacific region for all.” This project is also aligned with Chokepoint 1 of SCFAP III: “Inefficient digitalization of end-to-end supply chains, including border procedures and trade documentation exchanges.” 

The project aligns with the Putrajaya Vision 2040 and the Aotearoa Plan of Action, in particular with the goal for APEC to advance work on the FTAAP agenda, “which contributes to high standard and comprehensive regional undertakings” and to “strengthen APEC’s key role as an incubator of ideas on trade and investment issues in the region.’’ 

The project aligns with the APEC Internet and Digital Economy Roadmap (AIDER), in particular with the following Key Focus Areas (KFAs): KFA 1 - Development of digital infrastructure; KFA 2 - Promotion of Interoperability; KFA4 - Development of holistic government policy frameworks for the Internet and Digital Economy; KFA 5 - Promoting coherence and cooperation of regulatory approaches affecting the Internet and Digital Economy; KFA 6 - Promoting innovation and adoption of enabling technologies and services; KFA 7 - Enhancing trust and security in the use of ICTs.

Forum
The project supports ongoing discussions on the trade digitization in CTI and enriches discussions on the role of the trade digitization in enhancing trade facilitation, maintaining open supply chains and strengthening the APEC economic integration in APEC region in the post-COVID-19 era. It supports the discussions on trade digitization in relevant sub-groups such as DESG and digitalizing of customs procedures in the SCCP. It also discusses the following SCCP priority: “enhancing supply chain predictability and connectivity in the APEC region” and is the follow-up project of Peru’s project on e-bills and support the Australia-led CTI project on the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (MLETR).

Beneficiaries and Outputs

Output

1) Workshop

A one day workshop will be held in China in 2025.

We expect there will be 6-8 speakers/moderators and about 50 participants attending the workshop. The workshop will include presentations of speakers, as well as a technical demo session from with at least 2 solution providers, and followed by Q&A and the concluding session. The presentations aim to share information, current approaches, experiences, best practices and any challenges in the application of e-bill of lading, especially how it might advance trade and investment facilitation and digitalisation. The technical demo session will provide a direct chance for participants to understand the application of e-bill of lading. The gender issue will be addressed in the discussion sessions and speakers are encouraged to include gender-specific issues in relation to e-bill of lading. The representatives of stakeholders of e- bill of ladings from public and private sectors, including but not least to trade and customs government, logistic companies, international organizations, financial institutions, academies, MSMEs, will be widely invited to attend the workshop so as to enrich the workshop.

Overall, the Project aims to build awareness and capacity of participants, especially stakeholders, like customs officials and businesses working in e- bill of lading field. They will be better informed about the challenges and opportunities presented by the e-bill of lading for trade facilitation and digitization and supply chain.

The Post-event evaluation will gather participant responses on project outputs and outcomes that will assess whether the workshop was successful in its aims.

2) Project summary Report

A Project Summary Report (a minimum of 15, excluding annexes) with a summary from the workshop will be presented to CTI. Such report will be composed of the following, but not limited to, sections: introduction of the project; summaries of the Workshop; case-studies and a catalog of the existing practices within APEC region how they promote the widespread use of electronic bills of lading and voluntary recommendations made by the participants.

This Report will be made available for comments and edits to the Members of CTI, SCCP, and DESG.

If endorsed, it will be uploaded as a document in the MDDB.

Targeted group of the summary report: project attendants, CTI and DESG representatives, digital- related government officials, businesses, international organisations officials, financial institution representatives and researchers from APEC economies.

Outcome
1) Deeper understanding and knowledge of the development and the application of e-bill of ladings. The participants are expected to gain a more in-depth understanding of the e-bill of ladings, how it might advance the trade and investment facilitation and digitization. Awareness level of participants will be measured by the post-event evaluation.

2) Improvement of the capacity of APEC economies to create feasible environment. The best practices will be presented and analyzed at the workshop. The complete process of model trading transactions using an e-bill of lading will be demonstrated in the technical demo session. The knowledge and awareness amongst participants will be increased and the voluntary recommendations will be included in the summary report for the information. The organizers expect the stakeholders can integrate knowledge and information absorbed from the workshop to apply in practice. Participants from developing economies will learn about e-bill of ladings and how to promote their use. This outcome will be measured by the Post-event evaluation.

Beneficiaries

The main participants and beneficiaries of the project will be customs and trade officials, mainly in frontline and manager level, in APEC economies. They will better understand the challenges and opportunities for trade facilitation, digitization and supply chains. 

As electronic bills of lading become more widespread, financial institutions, the private trade sector and logistics operators will benefit from the project's output. 

Most importantly, the project will have a real impact on trade facilitation, open supply chains, and the potential interoperability between electronic BLL systems. 

Trade and customs officers could benefit from the workshop as their awareness on e- bill of ladings will be improved. 

The primary beneficiaries are those who attend the workshop and view the summary report. Representatives from trading companies, freight forwarders, shipping companies, logistics supply chain enterprises could benefit from the workshop as they know better of e-bill of ladings so that they could know how to use e-bill of ladings to improve efficiency, reduce cost and improve transparency and security of trade transactions. Representatives from Financial institutions could benefit from the workshop as they know better of e-bill of ladings so that they could get advantage of it and realize the goal of simplifying the operation of letters of credit, reducing the risk of fraud, and improving service efficiency. 

The secondary beneficiaries may not attend the workshop but will benefit from the project impact such as the APEC publication documents.

Dissemination

The Project Summary Report will be uploaded to MDDB and Project Database if the CTI and DESG approve. The number of hard copies of workshop presentation will be limited so as to contributing to the green and low-carbon development. The main output of the project will be a project summary report.

APEC’s MDDB and Project Database will be the main channel to release the Project Summary Report. The main target audience for the summary report will be non- expert audiences, including policymakers, stakeholders, and practitioners involved in trade facilitation efforts. The document will be designed to be easily understood by individuals without extensive technical knowledge, allowing them to be better aware of the benefits of using eBLs, and equip them with necessary knowledge on how to use eBls. By targeting this audience, the project aims to ensure the practical applicability and relevance. 

There is no intention to sell the outputs arising from this project. The focus is on knowledge sharing, capacity building, and fostering collaboration within the APEC community and beyond. The goal is to disseminate the practices and recommendations widely and encourage their uptake in trade facilitation initiatives. The project aims to provide value to stakeholders by offering insights and practical guidance rather than seeking financial gain.

Gender

Please see Project Proposal in Supporting Documents folder.

Work Plan

Please see Project Proposal in Supporting Documents folder.

Risks

Please see Project Proposal in Supporting Documents folder.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Please see Project Proposal in Supporting Documents folder.

Linkages

Speakers will be invited from APEC members and non-members, international organizations, and the private sector to attend the workshop. 

The project is a follow-up of Peru’s project on the use of an electronic bill of lading, which was endorsed in SCCP. Challenges and problems brought up in the aforementioned project will be included in this project. The project builds on discussion and technical demo on e-bill of ladings and will benefit trade and investment facilitation and digitization and eventually contribute to the region connectivity. 

The project will engage DESG and SCCP, as it aligns with AIDER’s Key Focus Areas and SCCP priority: “enhancing supply chain predictability and connectivity in the APEC region”. It will also engage ABAC, which has identified digital identity system for entities as one of its key interest areas. This project is going to be conducted in consultation with DESG and SCCP, and seek inputs as well as speaker and participants recommendations from DESG, SCCP and ABAC.

Sustainability

Dissemination of publication will be encouraged through participants, and access to the Summary Report through APEC's website monitored. 

The Summary Report, including case-studies and a catalogue of the existing practices within APEC region, and voluntary recommendations made by the workshop participants, will be shared with the CTI. 

Based on these findings and the feedback received, POs will evaluate – in coordination with co-sponsors – the possibility to continue the progress achieved through this activity by presenting another project next year.

Direct Labour

Please see Project Proposal in Supporting Documents folder.

Are there any supporting document attached?

Yes
Project No.
Project Title
Project Status
Fund Account
Sub-fund
Project Year
Project Session
APEC Funding
Co-funding Amount
Total Project Value
Sponsoring Forum
Topics
Committee
Other Fora Involved
Other Non-APEC Stakeholders Involved
Proposing Economy(ies)
Co-Sponsoring Economies
Expected Start Date
Expected Completion Date
Project Proponent Name 1
Job Title 1
Organization 1
Telephone 1
Email 1
Project Proponent Name 2
Job Title 2
Organization 2
Telephone 2
Email 2
Declaration
Project Summary
Relevance
Objectives
Alignment
Beneficiaries and Outputs
Dissemination
Gender
Work Plan
Risks
Monitoring and Evaluation
Linkages
Sustainability
Direct Labour
Are there any supporting document attached?
hdFldAdmin
Project Number
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Secretariat Comments
Reprogramming Notes
Consolidated QAF
Endorsement By Fora
PD Sign Off
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Monitoring Report Received
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PMU Field 1
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On Behalf Of
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Attachments
Content Type: Standard Proposal
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