April 21, 2019
The international electronic consignment note (eCMR) project initiated and coordinated by the Lithuanian Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Association Infobalt has entered the system prototype development stage – Lithuanian document digitization and automation solution companies. Fitek EDI, a consortium of partners from several countries, has won an international tender to develop a prototype of an electronic consignment note platform for cross-border road haulage.
This prototype will be the first step in digitizing the exchange of bills lading between different countries, their institutions, actors in the logistics chain and service providers. Electronic waybills will eliminate paper documents and help market participants save time and financial resources while ensuring better control of the logistics process.
In the summer of 2019, representatives of the Lithuanian public and private sectors signed a memorandum of cooperation on the digitization of cross-border road haulage using a cross-border electronic consignment note Baltic and Northern European countries, which both business and state institutions could use.
“The electronic consignment note is recognized as the second most important EU standard, after the entry into force of the electronic invoice, which helps to reduce the shadow economy. Both form the basis for creating a single EU digital market for goods and services, says Rišardas Bedulskis, Director of Fitek EDI.
The introduction of cross-border electronic consignment notes will save administrative costs, protect data by technological means, ensure transparency and accuracy, control and monitoring the delivery of goods. It will be possible to submit and exchange data in real-time. “
A consortium of Lithuanian Fitek EDI and its partners from Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Ukraine has proposed an innovative solution based on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), ensuring security, traceability, irreplaceability and transparency of the transmitted data.
The platform’s prototype is planned to be developed and tested between the three Baltic countries this autumn. The necessary legislation will then be initiated to make the electronic consignment note platform available to the logistics sector in all countries involved in the project.
“We plan to launch similar pilot e-waybill projects with these countries, probably by connecting them to the platform which is being developed by the Fitek EDI consortium,” said R. Šatrovaitė, Digital Policy Manager at Infobalt. “There is also an opportunity to expand not only the geographical scope but also other transport sectors: maritime, air, rail.”
Digital Innovation Network (DIGINNO) launched the e-waybill initiative as part of the international project, which aims to promote the digital economy and accelerate the single market development in the Baltic Sea Region. In addition to Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Norway, Denmark, and Finland joined this initiative.
At the political level of implementing the electronic consignment note, the initiative was demonstrated by the Estonian Ministry of Economic and Innovation, which organized a competition to create a prototype.
