UK Standards Institution Partners With Blockchain Startup for Supply Chain Compliance

The United Kingdom’s national standards body, the British Standards Institution (BSI), has partnered with blockchain company OriginTrail to increase supply chain transparency. The partnership was reported in a Jan. 24 press release.

BSI, which has operated since 1901 and had a reported revenue in 2017 of 473 million GBP (about $616 million), says it wants to use the company’s blockchain-based protocol to enhance the options businesses have to prove their supply chains are compliant with various regulations.

The partnership is one of several that OriginTrail has cemented over the past year since completing its initial coin offering (ICO) last January.

“In today’s increasingly interconnected world, transparency and traceability throughout the supply chain is vital,” BSI’s chief executive Howard Kerr commented in the press release, adding:

“This strategic partnership aims to provide our clients with the ability to demonstrate the authenticity of their compliance through the digital records of the assessments and certifications they have achieved from BSI.”

In practice, the partnership will focus on five key areas. These, according to the release, will assist BSI clients in meeting regulation standards, managing business risk and product recalls, and gaining more information and data from global supply chains.

Clients are already able to apply for blockchain services, which BSI describes as being in a pre-release phase at the time of the announcement.

Globally, blockchain technology is making considerable inroads into the supply chain sector, Cointelegraph reporting on multiple partnerships emerging this month alone.

Participants in the ongoing World Economic Forum in Davos were served fish tracked through one such blockchain supply chain integration during the first night of the event.