Maresign
Maresign
Maresign

· Gökçen Özkan

How to Achieve 'Exclusive Control' Under UK ETDA 2023?

Short answer. Under the UK Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023, an electronic bill of lading has the effect of its paper equivalent only if a reliable system keeps it identifiable, protects it from unauthorised alteration, lets only one person control it at a time, lets that person prove control, and ends the previous holder's control on transfer (s.2). A PDF or a hash cannot do this; exclusive control has to be engineered at the registry layer.

​The UK Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023 (in force 20 September 2023) gives an electronic trade document, including a bill of lading, the same effect as its paper equivalent (s.3). The recognition is conditional. Under s.2, a reliable system must be used to identify the document, protect it against unauthorised alteration, ensure that no more than one person can exercise control of it at any one time, allow the person in control to demonstrate that control, and ensure that a transfer deprives the previous holder of control.

The challenge: singularity

A PDF or a document hash can be copied. In the physical world, holding the original paper B/L is what gives exclusive control over the cargo. Digitally, the same result needs singularity: only one valid, functional instance of the document at any time, and a transfer that strips the previous holder of control.

What a compliant design has to do

Registry-level singularity

One record, one holder, one chain of endorsement, enforced by the system rather than by the file.

Identity-bound transfers

Each transfer of control is signed with a qualified electronic signature (QES). This creates strong evidence of who did what and when. Under Turkish law, secure (qualified) e-signature data is treated like a signed deed under HMK Art. 205/2 until the contrary is proven. That is strong evidence, but it is not irrefutable.

Deprivation on transfer

The sender loses control when the transfer completes. This is the digital equivalent of handing over the paper original.

Where Maresign stands

Maresign is designing an evidence and control layer against these criteria. It is in R&D (TRL 3), is not a live service, and has not been assessed under the ETDA or approved by the International Group of P&I Clubs. The signature layer we can deploy today is ArkSigner's qualified e-signature and timestamp infrastructure, supplied through our authorised solution partnership. A public demo shows the intended workflow: platform.maresign.com.

For a bank, the test is not a platform's marketing. It is the s.2 reliable-system criteria and, for documents governed by Turkish law, TTK Art. 1526(2) together with the statutory rules on electronic possession that Türkiye has not yet enacted.

Related reading


Primary sources

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