Commentary on sections of the Act Section 8: Extent, commencement and short title
Section 8(1) sets out the territorial extent of the Act. The Act extends to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, except for section 3(4) which extends only to Scotland.
	Section 8(2) makes provision about the coming into force of the Act. The Act comes into force at the end of the period of two months beginning with the day on which it is passed.
	Section 8(3) effectively provides that the Act has prospective effect only. It achieves this by providing that sections 3 and 4 of the Act do not apply in relation to a paper trade document or an electronic trade document issued before the day on which the Act comes into force. The Act uses the word "issue" as all the documents with which the Act is concerned need to be issued before they can be used in the ordinary course of business to achieve certain effects at law. When a particular trade document can be said to be issued will depend on the facts, and the type of document in question. For example, the word "issue" could be said to describe the moment in time when a trade document (where relevant) becomes a document of title.
	Section 8(3) entails that an electronic trade document issued before the Act comes into force cannot be possessed or indorsed, and cannot be converted into a paper trade document. It also entails that it is not possible to effect a change of form or medium under the Act from paper to electronic, if the relevant paper trade document was issued prior to the Act coming into force. In order to promote certainty and clarity, section 4 of the Act only applies to paper trade documents or electronic trade documents issued after the Act comes into force. Since the documents falling within the scope of the Act are generally issued, transferred, and accomplished in a relatively short space of time, the period during which such documents exist which cannot be converted to electronic or paper form in accordance with the Act will be relatively short.
	Section 8(4) sets out the short title of the Act. The Act may be cited as the Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023.