Legal Instrument

The Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific is a UN treaty designed to accelerate digital trade facilitation measures, adopted by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in May 2016. . The Agreement serves as an inclusive instrument accessible to countries at all levels of development, aiming to enable the exchange and mutual recognition of trade-related data and documents in electronic form and facilitating interoperability among national and subregional single windows and/or other paperless trade systems. The purpose is to make international trade transactions more efficient and transparent while improving regulatory compliance.

Key paperless trade provisions include:

• Exchange and mutual recognition of electronic trade data
• Interoperability between national single windows
• Cross-border paperless trade systems integration
• Digital trade facilitation measures
• Electronic document recognition protocols
• Mutual recognition frameworks
• Digital capacity development mechanisms
• Cross-border electronic data exchange
• Paperless trading implementation guidelines
• Electronic information sharing standards