Paperless Trading Digital Verification Platform (DVP)
Agriculture and trade sector
The Australian Border Force (ABF)
Tier 3
Project status - Closed
Duration - 3 years, 2 months
Investment - $9.1M | Digital ($9.1M)
The Australian Border Force (ABF) has developed and trialled the Digital Verification Platform (DVP). This is part of an ongoing trade modernisation initiative that supports Australia’s transition to paperless trade by promoting and testing the acceptance of secure and verifiable digital trade documents.
Developed under the government’s Simplified Trade System reform agenda, the DVP aims to enhance trade efficiency and reduce the administrative burden, as well as reliance on paper-based documents.
The platform allows authorised Australian issuing authorities to create digital verifiable credentials for trade documents such as Certificates of Origin. These digital credentials can be verified by partner customs agencies in real-time, confirming authenticity and integrity of Australian issued digital trade documents.
Modernising digital verification of trade documents
In 2024, the ABF successfully trialled the DVP with the Australian Industry Group and Thailand Customs under the Thailand–Australia Free Trade Agreement. The trial demonstrated the platform’s capability and attracted interest beyond trial participants.
The initiative provides an opportunity to reduce risk, enhance security and build trust between cross-border enforcement agencies and industry, while supporting a move toward a paperless trade ecosystem.
The DVP encourages reuse — it has been designed to enable the creation of digital trade documents based on key international standards that can be tailored and expanded across many document types and stakeholders. This can reduce the cost of compliance for traders, provide better data to government for risk assessment, and accelerate the shift to a secure paperless trade environment.
Delivering the DVP involved navigating complex technical, regulatory and international engagement challenges. The trial provided valuable insights into interoperability and the practicalities of implementing verifiable digital trade credentials at scale. Future steps may include identifying additional trading partners for trials and extending the platform to other trade document types in collaboration with Australian agencies and international counterparts. The ABF will continue to explore how the DVP’s verifiable credentials capability can be reused and scaled across government to support Australia’s vision for simple, integrated and intuitive digital services.
‘The DVP aligns with the Australian Government’s digital direction, aiming to modernise trade by digitising and verifying trade documents like Certificates of Origin for more efficient and transparent trade processes. To this end, ABF’s existing verifiable credentials capability and its commitment to digital government suggest a future path where DVP can be applied to trade policy and services.’
Tharanie Vithanage, Senior Responsible Official, ABF
More information is available from The Australian Border Force (ABF)