Members of the UK House of Lords have introduced legislation aimed at eliminating the need for paperwork documents, increasing the potential for blockchain technology to be used to keep track of records.
In an announcement on October 12, MP Michelle Donelan of the UK’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport said the Electronic Business Documents Bill had been submitted to Parliament. The legislation proposed eliminating “unnecessary paperwork and bureaucracy” by making digital documents legally recognized for commerce.
“Electronic business documents also increase security and compliance by making it easier to trace records, for example through the use of blockchain technology and distributed ledgers,” the government said, citing the World Economic Forum. “International commerce is still very much dependent on a special class of commercial documents that depend on the physical possession of one person, and the passing on of them to another.”