Digital Trade Facilitation Bill to boost India’s role in UN cross-border paperless trade pact: RIS

Even as the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry prepares to provide statutory recognition to electronic trade documents through the proposed ‘Digital Trade Facilitation Bill, 2026’, a policy brief by a group of Delhi based researchers says the move will strengthen India’s participation in the United Nation (UN) Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-Border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific (CPTA).

The CPTA facilitates electronic exchange and mutual recognition of trade-related documents across borders through legal and technical interoperability among participating countries. The researchers note that while India has accelerated its efforts towards paperless trade and cross-border digital integration, gaps exist for legal interoperability in India’s paperless trade ecosystem, some of which can be addressed through the Digital Trade Facilitation Bill.

The draft Bill, released by the ministry for stakeholder comments in February, seeks to provide statutory recognition to electronic trade documents, establish trusted digital verification mechanisms, and facilitate secure cross-border exchange of trade records. The enactment of a law became necessary after the ministry realized that existing legal framework is not enough to provide legal backing to implement BharatTradeNet, a Digital Public Infrastructure for trade that was announced in the Union Budget 2025–26.  It was felt that the existing legal framework does not fully recognise electronic trade documents or provide a comprehensive basis for cross-border digital trust services, constraining interoperability with global digital trade systems.

Meanwhile researchers - Arpita Mukherjee and Geetika Gupta from the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), Prabir De from the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) and Pritam Banerjee,  head of the Centre for WTO Studies at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) – in a policy brief published by RIS in June says that despite significant progress in domestic trade digitalisation, exporters from many economies, including India, suffer from high trade costs and delays due to the absence of cross-border interoperability and mutual legal recognition of electronic trade documents. While India has actively participated in the negotiation and development of the CPTA framework, the country has not yet acceded to the agreement due to concerns relating to gaps in legal preparedness and technological interoperability, they said.

The policy brief notes that given India’s expanding digital infrastructure and ongoing reforms, the country is well positioned to benefit from deeper engagement with frameworks such as CPTA, particularly in reducing cross-border trade costs, enhancing supply chain efficiency and improving interoperability with key trading members.

“India has been taking significant domestic reforms in trade facilitation and digital governance. Initiatives such as the National Trade Facilitation Action Plan 3.0, the development of digital customs infrastructure through ICEGATE and SWIFT, the introduction of faceless assessment and the proposed BharatTradeNet platform reflect a sustained policy focus on creating a paperless and technology driven trade ecosystem. In parallel, the proposed Draft Trade Facilitation Bill seeks to establish legal recognition for electronic trade documents and align India’s framework with international standards. Taken together, these initiatives demonstrate that India’s domestic trade facilitation architecture is increasingly aligning with the objectives of cross-border paperless trade”, the policy brief states.

According to the researchers, India’s existing legal, institutional and technological framework is already comparable to and in several areas more advanced than the minimum standards envisaged under the CPTA. Additionally, India’s recent trade agreements and bilateral arrangements demonstrate practical experience in implementing cross-border digital trade mechanisms, the researchers point out. These developments indicate that CPTA accession would build upon existing systems and reforms, rather than requiring fundamental restructuring of India’s trade governance framework, they say .