Moving closer to achieving paperless trade
United Nations trade facilitation Forum, Stockholm,
24-28 September 2007
Geneva, 10 October 2007 -- Simplifying trade procedures, cutting
red tape and reducing the costs of international trade were central themes
at the eleventh biannual Forum of the United Nations Centre for Trade
Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT). The Forum was held in
Stockholm from 24 to 28 September.
Opening the meeting, Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Trade, Ms. Ewa
Björling, said that UN/CEFACT had developed a number of tools that have
been implemented globally. We must continue to safeguard the use of global
standards. In addition, for the development and facilitation of globalized
trade, we need to see new tools being introduced, and she also stated her
belief that, “UN/CEFACT could provide the necessary platform for such
work”.
At a special seminar for Swedish business and government officials, the
Minister’s State Secretary, Mr. Hans Jeppson, emphasized the opportunities
for Sweden presented by trade facilitation. He noted that, “there is
a need for a lingua franca in international trade to cross borders and ensure
that traders understand each other.” The seminar highlighted the importance
of global standards in international trade. For example, by using standards,
Sweden can automatically process 98 per cent of the 6 million customs declarations
it receives each year.
Mike Doran, Chair of the UN/CEFACT Forum Management Group, announced an
impressive range of new developments and standards. Among these were the imminent
publication of three approved new UN/CEFACT e-business standards — namely,
the eTendering Standard for Public Procurement, the Project Schedule and Cost
Performance Management Standard and the Small-Scaled Lodging House Standard.
The meeting in Stockholm accelerated collaboration between standards bodies.
UN/CEFACT and the UBL Technical Committee of OASIS (Organization for the Advancement
of Structured Information Standards) reached agreement on the process, which
will be followed for the harmonization of the Universal Business Language
(UBL) Library with the UN/CEFACT Core Component Library. Alignment work is
already under way and should be completed next year.
During a seminar on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) within UN/CEFACT
it was concluded that the IPR policy of UN/CEFACT provides an innovative
solution to the issue with significantly better protection mechanisms for
users and standards development than the IPR policies implemented in many
other IT standards organizations. As the UN/CEFACT IPR policy is both innovative,
and relatively new, it was agreed to review opportunities to strengthen
the overall IPR framework, which also includes processes and procedures.
The Forum was attended by over 250 participants from 32 countries.
At the meeting, UN/CEFACT published the latest version of the technology
neutral Core Component Library for 2007, CCL07A. The Accounting and Audit
Group also announced that the Accounting Token technique will be incorporated
into electronic documents published by UN/CEFACT This opens a direct link
between business and accounting particularly for small and medium-sized
enterprises.
UN/CEFACT will hold its next Forum in Mexico City from 7 to 11 April
2008.
For further information on the Forum, see http://www.uncefactforum.org/
or contact:
|
Mike Doran Chair, UN/CEFACT Forum
Management Group
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: +41 (0) 22 767 1872
|
Jean Kubler
Chief, Global Trade Solutions Branch
UNECE Trade Division
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: +41 (0) 22 917 2774 |
ECE/TRADE/07/P05