7000018693 - Guidelines for Electronics Transferrable (ETR)

The East African Community (EAC) has made significant progress in advancing regional digital trade and electronic commerce through the implementation of the EAC Regional E-Commerce Strategy adopted in 2022. One of the key priorities under the Strategy is the establishment of an enabling legal and regulatory framework to support cross-border digital trade and paperless commerce within the region.

To support this objective, the EAC adopted the Action Plan for Harmonisation of e-Transaction Regulations in May 2025 to align Partner States’ electronic transaction laws with international standards, particularly the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Laws. While most EAC Partner States have legislation covering electronic commerce and electronic signatures, significant legal and regulatory gaps remain regarding the recognition and use of Electronic Transferable Records (ETRs).

Electronic Transferable Records are the digital equivalent of paper-based trade and financial documents such as bills of lading, warehouse receipts, promissory notes, and bills of exchange. The absence of MLETR-aligned legal frameworks limits the region’s ability to fully implement paperless trade systems, creates legal uncertainty for businesses, and constrains the adoption of digital trade finance and logistics solutions across borders.

At the continental level, the Digital Trade Protocol (DTP) of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) requires Member States to enable the use of Electronic Transferable Records to support digital trade integration across Africa. In line with these commitments, the Pan-African E-Commerce Initiative (PeCI), commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in partnership with the EAC Secretariat, seeks to support the development of a Regional Guideline for Electronic Transferable Records within the EAC.

The assignment will support the review of existing international, continental, regional and national legal frameworks, identify legal and regulatory gaps related to ETRs, facilitate stakeholder consultations, and develop a Regional Guideline and implementation roadmap to support EAC Partner States in harmonizing their laws with international standards (UNCITRAL MLETR) and continental commitments (AfCFTA DTP), thereby enabling the legal use of electronic transferable records domestically and across borders.

Therefore, GIZ Tanzania/EAC is inviting qualified and experienced consultancy firms from EAC Partner States to tender for this assignment. The firm should demonstrate expertise in UNCITRAL Model Laws (specifically MLETR) and the AfCFTA DTP (specifically the ETRs related aspects) as well as the technical and institutional capacity required to successfully undertake the assignment.