Companies unite to secure EBPP market

✍ Scribed by Sara Parker

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 198 KB
• Volume: 2000
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1353-4858
• DOI: 10.1016/s1353-4858(00)06009-8

✦ Synopsis

UK initiative to secure E-commerce

In the UK, the Chambers of Commerce and Royal Mail ViaCode have launched ChamberSign, a joint venture that will aims to enable business to trade securely online and reduce the burden of government red tape. ChamberSign will offer electronic certificates that authenticate the identity of E-commerce traders and guarantee privacy for any transactions over the Internet. Businesses with a ChamberSign certificate will have a software 'key' that enables contracts and invoices to be scrambled so that they cannot be altered in transit and only the intended recipients can read them. The certificates will also include a software 'key' that enables users to digitally sign computer generated material.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) is also developing a number of secure business applications to operate with ChamberSign. Exporters will benefit from the new electronic Certificates of Origin, known as E-CERT, that will reduce three-day process to a matter of hours. An e-procurement platform is also being developed to enable ChamberSign certificate holders to buy and sell in an online environment. ChamberSign is being developed in conjunction with the Chambers of Commerce of 10 European countries so that within a year it will be possible to use the cer-tificates to trade securely online across international borders.