THE International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have jointly selected an electronic air waybill to serve as the industry standard.

Both organisations are urging carriers to adopt the new system, which can legally serve as a replacement for paper waybills on flights between signatory nations of either the Montreal Convention or the fourth Montreal Protocol to the Warsaw Convention. The Montreal Convention from this month boasts up to 95 signatories, including the US, China, Japan, Korea, Canada, Australia, Mexico and the EU.

Electronic waybills eliminate paper, provide real-time access to waybill information, cut processing costs, reduce data entry errors and handling delays, according to the British International Freight Association (BIFA), in its recent news letter.