Major achievements in 2005
The UNECE trade development activities pursued three main objectives:
• Supporting and developing the infrastructure for international trade;
• Reducing obstacles to greater regional trade; and
• Furthering the integration of countries with economies in transition
into the global economy.
It has worked towards these objectives by maintaining, developing and
promoting trade-related norms, standards and tools, by developing
policy recommendations and by providing forums and publications for the
exchange of best practice among policymakers and experts.
Many of these core activities acquired particular significance during
2005 because of the WTO negotiations on trade facilitation in the run-up to
the Sixth Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong at the end of the year. UNECE
contributed to the shaping of a consensus through several activities. For
example, in April, within the context of the WTO Public Symposium, UNECE organized
a workshop in Geneva on «Trade Facilitation: A Tool for Development» in
collaboration with the Agency for International Trade Information and Cooperation
(AITIC). The workshop was attended by high-level representatives from missions,
capitals, international organizations and the private sector. It highlighted
the role of trade facilitation in countries’ successful integration
into international trade and investment networks and, thus, their development
and growth.
The UNECE also published a report outlining how its work in trade
and transport could assist WTO Members in addressing operational requirements
under the trade facilitation related GATT articles (V, VIII and X)
that are currently under negotiation. Further, it organized capacity-building
events at the request of different regional groupings to offer trade facilitation
negotiators further insight into the technical issues and the implications
of the GATT articles. These events were held in Kuala Lumpur, for the
Asia-Pacific Region, and in Geneva, at the WTO Headquarters, for the African
Group within the WTO.
The United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business
(UN/CEFACT) revised or added more than 4,000 entries to the UN Location
Code (UN/LOCODE). This code is used by the world’s major postal,
customs and shipping organizations. UN/EDIFACT, the international standard
for electronic data interchange, was also updated and a message added
for exchanging tracing and environmental information for agricultural
products.
UN/CEFACT also made progress on several electronic business standards
that support paperless trade, including: Extensible Mark-up Language
(XML) Naming and Design Rules; a new version of the Uniform Modelling
Language (UML); an updated Core Component Technical Specification
(CCTS); and a number of Business Requirements Specifications (BRS)
for the core component library.
This progress was mirrored by the 3rd International Forum on Trade
Facilitation on “Paperless Trade in International Supply Chains:
Enhancing Efficiency and Security” in June. More than 300
delegates discussed the benefits and challenges of paperless
trade, especially for customs clearance, trade logistics, banking,
port management and air transport. The Forum endorsed a roadmap
for migration to paperless trade, which will provide a framework
for national policymakers to move towards this goal. The Forum was
a thematic event under the World Summit for the Information Society
(WSIS) and was reported to the Global WSIS meeting in Tunis in November
2005.
The 7th UN/CEFACT Forum, which took place in Lyon, France, in
September focused on the implementation and further development
of UN/CEFACT Recommendation 33 on establishing a Single Window
(Single Windows allow traders to submit all import and export formalities
and payments at one location). It also focused on a revision
of Recommendation 6 on the Aligned Invoice Layout Key for International
Trade, as well as the development of standards for UN electronic
Trade documents (UNeDocs). The Forum looked at how code lists
such as the newly updated “Codes for Units of Measure used in International
Trade” could be made easily available for use in e-business
and it inaugurated two new working groups on electronic documents
and agriculture.
In the area of regulatory cooperation and standardization policies,
work on market surveillance gained momentum. National market
surveillance agencies, in particular in transition economies,
are finding it increasingly difficult to ensure that users
and consumers are protected from dangerous and substandard goods,
without having recourse to trade-restrictive practices. The
Second International Forum on Market Surveillance and Consumer Protection,
held in October 2005, presented different national approaches
and shared practical solutions to common problems. The overall
objective of the forum was to identify best practices.
Access to agricultural export markets depends increasingly on respecting
international agricultural quality standards. As the leading world agency
in the development of such standards, UNECE actively continues to develop
new standards and update existing ones to meet new requirements from consumers
and traders. In 2005, approximately 15 existing standards and recommendations
were updated, and a proposal for a new UNECE Recommendation for “ceps” (a
type of mushroom) was approved. This work was complemented by UNECE’s
contributions to capacity-building seminars for implementing these standards,
organized jointly with OECD, in Georgia and Slovakia.
Major challenges for 2006
These will include preparing follow-up to decisions on trade facilitation
made at the WTO Sixth Ministerial Conference, as well as continuing
to provide support to countries participating in the WTO trade facilitation
negotiations.
Many Single Window operators have asked UN/CEFACT to develop common
standards for the interoperability of Single Windows. To respond
to this need, UN/CEFACT will hold a workshop on this topic in early 2006.
The UNECE will look at how it can help countries to advance in implementing
the “Roadmap towards Paperless Trade” that was approved in 2005.
In addition, advancing the programme of work on trade facilitation and electronic
business standards at the UN/CEFACT Forum in Vancouver, Canada in March 2006
will be important.
In June 2006, UNECE will organize an international forum on regulatory cooperation to examine current developments in regulation and standardization
in the UNECE region. The forum is expected: to identify the major problems and
concerns in European and trans-Atlantic regulatory cooperation; to receive an
update on regulatory cooperation tendencies in other regions and on good regulatory
practices drawn up by Governments and international organizations; and to provide
an overview and analysis of relevant UNECE activities in the context of UNECE
member States’ requirements.
Further work will also be undertaken to promote the practical implementation
of UNECE’s Recommendation “L” on Regulatory Harmonization,
which is based on the use of international standards.
Work on agricultural quality standards will continue. UNECE member
States would like to see greater coordination between UNECE, as creator
of the standards, and OECD, as a promoter of the standards through its
implementation guidelines. Both secretariats are committed to achieving
this. In addition, Governments have expressed the wish to see greater promotion
and implementation of the standards outside the region (i.e. by countries
that export to UNECE countries) and this will be another challenge to meet
given the existing resources for this work.