The Commonwealth Model Law on Digital Trade offers transformative benefits for governments, businesses and consumers across member countries.
By providing legal certainty for electronic communications, records, signatures and contracts, the law eliminates long-standing barriers that have limited the adoption of paperless trade. Its implementation enables faster, more efficient transactions, reducing delays and administrative burdens, and improving overall trade performance.
Digital trade holds great promise to catalyse global value chains and grow trade worldwide. Within the Commonwealth, facilitating digital trade could increase intra- Commonwealth trade by approximately US$90 billion. More significantly, legal reform to support the digitalisation of trade processes could add a further US$1.1 trillion in efficiency and growth gains. Combined, these reforms could deliver nearly US$1.2 trillion in total benefits over a five-year period, underscoring the immense value of
adopting paperless trade systems.
The Model Law offers practical legislative guidance, enabling legal recognition of electronic transactions, signatures and transferable records. It ensures national laws are interoperable, secure and business-ready, while maintaining necessary protections for data, identity and trust. Its adoption will empower governments to unlock economic opportunities, boost trade competitiveness and ensure their economies are fit for the demands of modern commerce.
