Australia and Singapore have concluded a blockchain trial to assess the use of digital trade documents for cross-border transactions, concluding that electronic versions of required documentation could be issued and verified digitally across the countries’ two independent systems.
The blockchain trial was initiated as part of the Australia-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement to make cross-border trade simpler between the two countries, and involved Australian Border Force (ABF), the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA), and Singapore Customs, along with industry participants.
The trial successfully tested the interoperability of two digital verification systems – the ABF’s Intergovernmental Ledger (IGL) and IMDA’s TradeTrust. QR-codes embedded with unique proofs were inserted into digital Certificates of Origin (COO), enabling immediate verification for authenticity and integrity of the document when scanned or machine-read.
Both IGL and TradeTrust use the TradeTrust framework as the key underlying technology to allow interoperability, so the document can be verified by both systems. TradeTrust’s approach to verification allows documents to be verified not only in digital format but also when the documents are converted into a paper document at any point of the transaction, the partners said.
“TradeTrust helps verify documents for more efficient cross-border trade. This successful trial demonstrates TradeTrust’s value as a framework to connect governments and businesses for more effective trade flow,” added Lew Chuen Hong, Chief Executive of IMDA.
