eBL (Electronic Bill of Lading)

An electronic bill of lading is the digital equivalent of the paper bill of lading, a document of title that can be transferred to pass ownership of goods in transit. Its legal validity depends on enabling law: the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (MLETR), enacted by a growing list of states, and platform rules backed by public-key cryptography. The DCSA eBL standard targets interoperability so an eBL can move between platforms, which is the main barrier to wide adoption.