ABSTRACT
Electronic documentation Developments in computer cryptography have made it possible to substitute the paper bill of lading or waybill by an electronic equivalent. Instead of the bill of lading being transferred by physical indorsement, it is generated by computer and transferred by the transmission of an electronic message by the sender, using a private digital key, to a recipient who decrypts it by using a public digital key. This system of generating paperless documents is known as electronic document interchange (EDI). Under the CMI Rules 1990, transmission was made through the carrier, who would issue a new private key to each indorsee. However, this system was regarded as insecure and many traders were unhappy at the important role played by the carrier in the process of indorsement, a process which had not involved them at all when a paper bill of lading was used.
