Few have doubts that e-commerce is changing the landscape of trade, as growth continues unabated in many economies. B2B e-commerce sales are expected to outgrow B2C, reaching US$6.7 trillion by 2020. Alibaba’s 10th annual Singles Day sale on Nov. 11 racked up $30.8 billion in sales and reached $1 billion in 85 seconds.
This is where FIATA and its members need to provide solutions and strike a workable balance. FIATA took early steps to engage members on e-commerce practices, highlighting that logistics needs to meet the growing demands of e-traders, meanwhile, e-commerce needs to rely on logistics to ensure product fulfilment. This encouraged FIATA to enhance its engagement with the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business and World Customs Organization. In the private sector, we also saw large logistics service providers joining forces with global online platforms and retailers.
E-commerce will also almost certainly bury the existing uncertainties about paperless trade, a topic that FIATA has worked on in the past years, pushing for greater penetration of electronic FIATA bill of lading. Pilots are being conducted, and the results we register are positive, but there still seems to be scepticism in using paperless transport documents. We believe that more data security with newer technology and joint efforts among all stakeholders could create more confidence in e-documents.
On the regulatory side, FIATA emphasizes a greater focus on Article 7.8 (facilitation for online purchases) in the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement, which would reduce cross-border clearance and encourage e-commerce growth. There is a crucial role that national trade facilitation committees can play, and we might remind the reader that FIATA had suggested this opportunity early in May 2015 with an ad-hoc position paper.
FIATA and its members stand ready to contribute to policy discussions on e-commerce, encourage countries to realize the impact of investing in expert logistics infrastructure, facilitating border crossing procedures and investing in suitable training programs.