Blockchain-Based Rules of Origin and the Burden of Proof in Customs Determination: A Cautionary Tale

This article examines the question of whether blockchain-based provenance systems may lawfully influence rules of origin determinations. It argues that, while such systems may enhance evidential integrity, they may, in the absence of clear safeguards, encourage adverse inferences from missing data. Such inferences risk operating as a de facto shift in evidential burdens, even where the formal legal burden remains unchanged, with potential implications for established rules governing preferential trade treatment.