American Club circular no.30/32 – Electronic (paperless) Trading – update

NOVEMBER 21, 2022

CIRCULAR NO. 30/22TO MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION

Dear Member:

ELECTRONIC (PAPERLESS) TRADING: ESSDOCS, BOLERO INTERNATIONAL LTD, E-TITLE AUTHORITY PTE LTD, GLOBAL SHARE S.A. (EDOXONLINE PLATFORM) WAVE (WAVE APPLICATION), CARGOX, TRADELENS (TRADELENS EBL), IQAX LIMITED (IQAX EBL), AND SECRO INC. (SECRO)

This circular informs Members of the approval by the International Group of P&I Clubs (the Group) of the Secro system and DSUA 2021.1, an updated version of essDOCS’s electronic trading system, respectively.

Members may recall, as reported in in Circular No. 18/19 of June 13, 2019 as affirmed in Circular No. 43/19 of December 24, 2019 and Circular No. 07/21 of March 29, 2021, that, until February 2010, the Rules of all of the Group clubs specifically excluded liabilities in respect of the carriage of cargo under all electronic, i.e. paperless trading, systems to the extent that the liabilities under such systems would not have arisen under a paper system i.e. one using transferable paper documentation.

Secro system
Since February 20, 2010, liabilities arising in respect of the carriage of cargo under such paperless trading systems were covered, provided that the system had first been approved by the Group. Since that time the Group has approved electronic i.e. paperless systems administered by EssDOCS, by Bolero International Ltd (more specifically the Rulebook/Operating procedures September 1999), E-TITLE, edoxOnline, WAVE, CargoX, TradeLens (TradeLens eBL), IQAX Limited and now Secro has been added to the list of IG approved system providers.Secro is a software-as-a-service platform enabling real-time, secure collaboration between commodity traders, shipowners, agents and financial service providers. Customers digitally create, e-sign, and exchange the most common trade documents, including negotiable and non-negotiable ocean bills of lading. Secro also provides contract performance tools. The Secro platform uses data encryption and it is built on private blockchain technology. Secro Inc. is an independent US-based, privately owned company, backed by venture capital investors. Further details can be found at:

https://secro.io/

The legal documentation and terms of use associated with the use and operation of Secro is in the Secro Customer and User Agreement dated October 6, 2022. This documentation, as well as the Secro e-bill dated September 29, 2022, have been reviewed and approved by the Group. Both are governed by Singapore law, including the Singapore Electronic Transactions (Amendments) Act 2021, which came into force on March 19, 2021, and which recognizes electronic bills of lading under Singapore law.

EssDOCS
Members are referred to Circular No. 10/13 of March 8, 2013, when DSUA 2013.1, the updated version of essDOCS, was approved.

This circular confirms approval by the Group of an updated version of essDOCS’s electronic trading system. This version is called DSUA 2021.1 and supersedes essDOCS’s previous electronic trading system DSUA 2013.1 which remains approved for the purposes of Club cover. DSUA 2021.1 came into effect as of July 1, 2021.

Changes to DSUA 2021.1
This circular notifies Members of the following changes to the DSUA:

• a minor change in trading name from ESS-Databridge Exchange Limited to essDOCS; and
• updating the reference to the applicable data protection law in DSUA Terms & Conditions paragraph 4.12;
• extending DSUA Terms & Conditions paragraph 8 to include recent amendments to Singapore law, specifically the Singapore Electronic Transactions (Amendment) Act which came into force on March 19, 2021 and which recognizes electronic bills of lading under Singapore law; and
• adding the option to select the jurisdiction of the Singapore courts in DSUA Terms & Conditions paragraph 17.

Other exclusions of cover under Group club Rules relating to the carriage of cargo will of course continue to apply in respect of all the approved providers in the same way as for paper systems. These exclusions include discharge at a port or place other than the port or place provided for in the contract of carriage, the issue / creation of an ante or post-dated electronic document / record, and the delivery of cargo without the production of the negotiable electronic document / record, which in the case of an approved electronic trading system will mean delivery of cargo other than in accordance with the rules of that trading system.

It would be helpful to the Group, in monitoring the use and development of these systems, if Members who are using them would advise the Club of any benefits or difficulties which they encounter, legal or practical, in the operation of the system or systems.

Yours faithfully,