Internationalising Digital Commercial Laws

In this article, we explore the interaction between the disciplines of international trade law and international commercial law in facilitating the digitisation of cross-border commercial transactions. Despite various transnational initiatives to recognise digital trading at the international, supranational, European, or national level, most States recognise certain trade documents as legally valid only if they are in paper form. Drawing on recent commercial law reforms in the United Kingdom as a case study, we consider how domestic legal developments can have a catalysing effect in the modernisation of the legal frameworks governing cross-border commercial transactions worldwide. We conclude that international trade law strategies can play an important role in advancing domestic commercial law reforms of a private law nature, thereby facilitating digital trade.