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Highlight / News - ARCHIVES (2015-2011)

31 December 2015: The UN/EDIFACT directory version D.15B has been validated by BPS Validation Team and approved by UN/CEFACT Bureau for publication. It is now available in the UN/EDIFACT section of the UN/CEFACT website and can be downloaded from the UN/EDIFACT Directories.

17 December 2015: Following the intersessional approval period that ended on 15 December 2015, the revised Recommendation No. 4 on National Trade Facilitation Bodies (ECE/TRADE/425) has been approved and published.
17 December 2015: UNECE Secretariat has released the 2015-2 UN/LOCODE directory.
14 December 2015: UNECE co-organized a workshop on "Delivering on the Trade Facilitation Agreement: The role of standards and regulatory frameworks" on the side-lines of the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi, Kenya.
14 December 2015: UNECE co-organized a workshop on "Delivering on the Trade Facilitation Agreement: The role of standards and regulatory frameworks" on the side-lines of the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi, Kenya.
08 December 2015: Following approval of the eCROP Project Proposal this is to announce a call for participation. Read more....
7 December 2015: On 14 December, UNECE will co-host a side event at the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi. The panellists at this side event will present their experiences with existing standards and related tools for trade facilitation, as well as their thoughts on how such instruments can be better used to further enhance implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) worldwide. For more information and registration, see the event website
27 November 2015: The UN/CEFACT Regulatory PDA is pleased to announce the opening of the Public Review period for the Journal Book Project that aims to develop a standard model and business standard for accounting journal books.   Read more....

08 December 2015: Following approval of the eCROP Project Proposal this is to announce a call for participation.
This project describes the business processes for the exchange of electronic exchange of data involved of plant production farming, between farmers and his suppliers, service providers, the customers and the competent authorities, vise versa, and the crop cultivation data along the supply chain.
Plant production farming includes horticulture, fresh fruits, vegetables and arable farming crops, animal feed crops (pasture) and aquaculture crops (seaweed, algea). The data involved in the message includes information about the crop fields, cropping schema, treatment, plant health, supplies, operation advise and instruction and crop monitoring data, labour  and certificates. The messages are used by the farmer and his partners  and by the partners in the supply chain  to insure sustainable farming, food quality and food safety.
This Project concerns developing the agricultural information entities for the UN/CEFACT Core Components Library and development of ebXML message schemas.
To register interest in participating or for more information please contact Mr Henk Zwinkels or Mr Frans van Diepen.
The development of this Project can be followed on the UN/CEFACT Collaboration Environment https://www2.unece.org/cefact
27 November 2015: The UN/CEFACT Regulatory PDA is pleased to announce the opening of the Public Review period for the Journal Book Project that aims to develop a standard model and business standard for accounting journal books. The 60 days Public Review period will end on January 25th 2016. BRS and RSM are available for review.
Any comments should be submitted to the project lead Benoît Marchal using the Public Review Comment Template.
15 November 2015: The UN/CEFACT Schema library version D.15B has been approved and is now available along with the validation report and release notes.
15 November 2015: The UN/CEFACT Bureau has approved the publication of the Core Component Library 15B.
30 October 2015: Call for participation on Project "Supply Chain Reference Data Model (SCRDM)”.
Following approval of the SCRDM Project Proposal this is to announce a call for participation.
This Project concerns developing a Supply Chain reference data model (SCRM), as a limited structured subset of the UN/CEFACT ebXML Core Components Library, providing semantic links especially between the Core Components and the EDIFACT implementations.
To register interest in participating or for more information please contact Mr. Rolf Wessel.
The development of this Project can be followed on the UN/CEFACT Collaboration Environment https://www2.unece.org/cefact
16 October 2015: The Secretary to UN/CEFACT, Ms Maria Ceccarelli, visited the China National Institute of Standarization (CNIS) in Beijing. Mr. Yueming Qiu, Vice President of CNIS, serves as the Head of Delegation in UN/CEFACT. CNIS has followed the standardisation work in UN/CEFACT since the 1990s. In recent years, it has also drafted some trade facilitation and electronic business standards in China based on UN/CEFACT outputs. At the meeting, Mr. Yueming Qiu, reiterated his Institute's support for the work of UN/CEFACT. Click here for the CNIS article on the visit.
15 October 2015: Revised Recommendation 4 has been submitted to the Heads of Delegation for intersessional approval by 15 December.
07 September 2015: UN/CEFACT reminds the cut-off dates for submission of new DMRs for CCL D15B and EDIFACT D15B:
- 15th of September 2015 (for CCL)
- 21st of September 2015 (for EDIFACT)
07 September 2015: Call for Participation on Project "Update of Recommendation 1 on UN Layout Key for Trade Documents". A successful standard is one that people use without realizing that they are using it. Nearly every single consumer has received a product accompanied by a document based on the UN LAYOUT KEY. Delivery documents, regardless of language facilitate transport procedures because the format of the document itself is based on the simple concept of the same information appearing in the same place in a document: For example: weights, values, addresses, references, etc. Why are businesses opting to use aligned documents and aligned data exchange? Simply they are only doing so because they are achieving significant cost savings through the benefits of the system. These benefits can be summarized as follows:
Aligned documents are:
- Easy to complete;
- Easy to check; and,
- Errors can be virtually eliminated.
As a result:
- Official compliance is simpler;
- Commercial activities are more efficient; and,
- Costs are reduced.
Recommendation 1 is at the base of the harmonization and the standardization of the information on trade documents since the 1970s. It has enabled advanced economies to develop a single administrative document to replace over forty documents previously used. This has enabled many countries to participate in international trade. Traders from least developed economies and developing economies have been empowered by layout key documents to enter the international trade market. Moving forward, this is facilitating the move from paper based-document to the electronic exchanges of information.
UN/CEFACT has launched a revision project of Recommendation 1 on UN LAYOUT KEY which aims to consolidate existing material into a single set of guidelines with supporting annexes. Relevant experts and interested parties are invited to join the project team which shall work during the next six to eight months, working mainly through conference calls and other electronic means. The following documents will be revised during the project:
- Recommendation 1, 1981, ECE/TRADE/137
- Addendum to Recommendation 1, 2001, TRADE/CEFACT/2001/15
- Informative Annex to Recommendation No 1 - Guidelines for Application 2002, ECE/TRADE/270
For more information, contact the Domain Coordinator: Paloma Bernal Turnes
21 August 2015: The UN/CEFACT Schema library version D.15A has been approved and is now available along with the validation report and release notes.
5 August 2015:  Registration for 26th UN/CEFACT Forum is now open.
6 July 2015: UNECE Secretariat has released the 2015-1 UN/LOCODE directory.
24 June 2015: The UN/EDIFACT directory version D.15A has been validated by BPS Validation Team and approved by UN/CEFACT Bureau for publication. It is now available in the UN/EDIFACT section of the UN/CEFACT website and can be downloaded from the UN/EDIFACT Directories.
9 June 2015: The UN/CEFACT Bureau released a Call for Candidates as Domain Coordinators (deadline July 10th, 2015) | PDF Version | MS WORD Version .
8 June 2015: The UN/CEFACT Bureau has approved the publication of the Core Component Library 15A.
29 May 2015: Call for Participation on Project "Revised Remittance Advice".
The UN/CEFACT Supply Chain Program Development Area is pleased to announce the UN/CEFACT Bureau's decision to launch the "Revised Remittance Advice" project. The project proposal and other details are available on UN/CEFACT Web page.
The purpose of the project is to revise the function of the current Remittance Advice message for improving reconciliation works of traders, and sharing commercial information with the financial sector in order to adapt the recent-day commercial practice in the world.
Work on this project will begin shortly; the first face to face meeting of the project will take place during the 26th UN/CEFACT Forum in Marseille, France, 2-6 November 2015.
To register interest in participation or for more information please contact Hisanao Sugamata (hsedi0111 [at] gmail.com), Project Leader.
08 May 2015: The UN/CEFACT Recommendation 20 Revision 11 has been validated by BPS Validation Team and approved by UN/CEFACT Bureau for publication. It is now available in the Recommendations Section of the UN/CEFACT Website.
30 April 2015 : A 60 day public review is open for the revised Recommendation No. 4 on National Trade Facilitation Bodies and its Guidelines.
The revised Recommendation suggests that governments establish national trade facilitation bodies (NTFBs) as an indispensable component of trade policy formulation embracing the views and opinions of all stakeholders in pursuing agreement, cooperation and collaboration. Due to the multiplicity of Trade Facilitation bodies that have emerged in countries in recent years (e.g. Coordination Committees for Single Window, National Trade and Transport Facilitation Committees, National Logistics Councils, and so on) there is increased demand for a national platform, which will be the main coordinating body for any trade facilitation reforms, thus facilitating effective consultation among public and private sector stakeholders. The Recommendation and guidelines provide a detailed description of the steps for establishing NTFBs, in line with the letter of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement adopted in November 2014. The guidelines also include a non-exhaustive list of terms of reference for the NTFB for direct use or customization by countries based on national contexts.
The final draft text of the Recommendation and the guidelines for public review, as well as the template for all comments are available in the Public Review section of the project.
Comments should be submitted to the Project Editor, Khan Salehin using the Public Review Comment Submission Template.
30 April 2015 : A 60 day public review is open for the recommendation project on Public Private Partnership in Trade Facilitation.
This project studies the application of classic Public Private Partnership models to specific trade facilitation measures and specifically the various risks to be considered when thinking of this type of financing. It further proposes a methodology for assessing the implementation of a Public Private Partnership for Trade Facilitation measures. Within the context of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement adopted in November 2014, Trade Facilitation is a central aspect for the future of international trade. Financing these projects will increasingly be a challenge, especially for transitional and developing economies. This recommendation project aims to provide a contribution in this sense.
The final draft text of the recommendation and the guidelines for public review and the template for all comments are available.
Comments should be submitted to the Project Editor, Paloma Bernal Turnes using the Public Review Comment Template.
21 April 2015: This week in Geneva, the 25th Forum of UN/CEFACT gathered some 130 experts from more than 30 countries, intergovernmental organizations and the private sector in order to finalise a set of technical standards and recommendations which will support implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTO TFA).
The numerous and comprehensive UN/CEFACT’s trade facilitation tools have been internationally acknowledged and extensively used for a long time: they keep being openly designed by hundreds of experts in the world in order to complement outputs produced by other key international players -which actively attended the event (like WCO, UNCTAD, ITC, IMO, IATA,etc.)- and ultimately provide support to countries’ efforts both as they plan their commitments under the WTO TFA and as they implement these measures after the TFA has come into force.
The CEFACT continues to promote the "Trade Facilitation Implementation Guide", which will be working through an updated version of the website.
The 25th Forum also brought some major advances in the fields of transport, agriculture, tourism, supply chain, insurance, procurement and finance. These included: developing a data reference model to facilitate multimodal transport; improving the traceability of animal and animal products by fostering related information exchange; and defining how trade finance can be integrated into current trade facilitation frameworks and practices. All projects and activities are registered in the CEFACT publicly-accessible "Confluence" website.
Many experts to UN/CEFACT were able to participate in two successful parallel events: the Meeting of the Global Facilitation Partnership for Transportation and Trade (GFP) and the UN/LOCODE Conference, respectively. The next Forum will take place in Marseille, France, on 2-6 November 2015.
17 February 2015: The 21th Plenary session of UN/CEFACT took place in Geneva on 16 and 17 February 2015. The meeting gave an opportunity to UN Member States to review the work carried out by UN/CEFACT in 2014 while also discussing future challenges related to its programme of work. Another major objective of the meeting was to elect a new Chair for UN/CEFACT for the period 2015-2018.Through presentations and open debates, delegates and UN/CEFCAT Bureau Members discussed how the trade facilitation recommendations and standards developed by UN/CEFACT support the implementation of trade facilitation measures at the national, regional and global levels. This is reflected in the over 500,000 accesses per month to the Trade Facilitation Implementation Guide, where all sections of the WTO TFA are referenced and mapped to deliverables of UN/CEFACT as well as of other organizations.Participants recognized the great potential for UN/CEFACT outputs to support the implementation of the WTO TFA. In this context, the Plenary approved Recommendation 40 on consultation approaches in trade facilitation matters; this work notably encourages the subdivision of consultation approaches between traders and border agencies into three layers: strategic, operational and technical.The Plenary elected Mr Lance Thompson (United States of America) as the new Chair of UN/CEFACT for the period 2015-2018. Mr Lance Thompson had already served as a Vice-Chair of UN/CEFACT in charge of the International Trade Procedures section, and has extensive experience in customs and trade facilitation matters. The next UN/CEFACT Forum will take place in Geneva on 20-24 April 2015.
16 February 2015: The UN/CEFACT International Trade Procedures Programme Development Area is pleased to announce the UN/CEFACT Bureau decision to launch a project aiming at the revision of Recommendation 4 on “National Trade Facilitation Bodies” and its guidelines. The project proposal (brief summary below) is available at the project's web area. To participate in the project please contact the UNECE Secretariat at salehin.khan AT unece.org The UNECE Recommendation 4 on “National Trade Facilitation Bodies” was last updated in 2001; its guidelines were last updated in 2000. Many countries around the world have established these types of trade facilitation bodies and they have been working effectively for many years. A new impulse has been given by the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement which will potentially oblige every WTO member to establish such a Trade Facilitation Body. In light of this, the current project aims to modernize the recommendation text in order to be in line with the currently produced UNECE trade facilitation recommendations. It will also go through the guidelines to modernize the text and provide concrete guidance on the establishment of such bodies. Most work and discussions will be done on conference calls. UN/CEFACT hopes to have an updated draft of the recommendation and guideline ready within a few months’ time.
12 January 2015: The UN/CEFACT Schema library version D.14B has been approved and is now available along with the validation report and release notes.
2014

30 December 2014: UNECE Secretariat has released the 2014-2 UN/LOCODE directory.
29 December 2014: UN/CEFACT BPS Validation Team has approved the Recommendation 20 Revision 10 (Annexes I-III) for publication
16 December 2014: UN/CEFACT BPS Validation Team has approved the Core Component Library D.14B for publication.
UN/CEFACT Agriculture Domain is pleased to request the public review for the BRS of Animal traceability data exchange Project, that describes traceability processes for live animals, groups of animals and fish during transport within a country or across borders.
The review period is 60 days from the public review start date of the document (until February 14th, 2015).
Commments should be submitted to the Project Leader, Bruno Prépin, via the Public Review page.
4 December 2014: The UN/EDIFACT directory version D.14B has been approved by BPS Validation Team and is now available on the UN/EDIFACT website. The files can be downloaded from UN/EDIFACT Directory.
27 November 2014: Call for Participation on Project "Integrating Trade Finance & Supply Chain Finance into Trade Facilitation". Following approval of the project on "Integrating Trade Finance & Supply Chain Finance into Trade Facilitation" this is to announce a call for participation. The purpose of this project is to recommend that current frameworks and practices related to trade facilitation explicitly integrate and include trade finance and supply chain finance. To register interest in participating or for more information please contacts Mr. Harm-Jan van Burg (h.j.m.burg (at) minfin.nl).
6 November 2014: 24th Forum in New Delhi: enhancing trust in paperless trade.
27 October 2014: Call for Participation on Project "Common Framework for Freight Information Exchange". Following approval of the "Common Framework for Freight Information Exchange Project", this is to announce a call for participation. This Project concerns studying requirements for freight information exchange across the international supply chain as well as reviewing existing frameworks in view of confirming or invalidating the need for a UNECE Recommendation on the subject. To register interest in participating or for more information please contact Mr. Mike Onder.
Call for Participation on Project "Multi Modal Transport Reference Data Model". Following approval of the "Multi Modal Transport Reference Data Model (MMT) Project" this is to announce a call for participation. This Project concerns developing a Multi Modal Transport (MMT) reference data model, as a limited structured subset of the UN/CEFACT ebXML Core Components Library, providing semantic links especially between the Core Components and the EDIFACT implementations. To register interest in participating or for more information please contact Mr. David Hesketh.
Call for Participation on Project "Purchase Order Financing Project". Following approval of the "Purchase Order Financing Project" this is to announce a call for participation. This Project concerns providing companies short term solution for funding inventory in order to complete sales transactions. To register interest in participating or for more information please contact Mr. Fabio Sorrentino.
16 September 2014: UN/CEFACT Travel & Tourism Domain is pleased to request the public review for the BRS of Destination Travel Information (DTI) Process Project, the purpose of which is to provide businesses or consumers with destination travel information of such tourist facilities as designated World Heritage properties, public facilities (Public-Toilets, Emergency Ward, Police Office, etc.) and to share regional GPS coordinates with them.
The review period is 60 days from the public review start date of the document (until November 16).
Any comments should be sent to project chair Mr. Gil-Jun Ko.
1 September 2014:  Registration for the 24th UN/CEFACT Forum in New Delhi, India (October 27 to 31, 2014) is now open.
11 August 2014: UN/CEFACT BPS Validation Team has approved the Core Component Library D.14A for publication.
4 August 2014: An error was found in revision 4 of Recommendation 28 code list where three items were omitted during the latest update. Now the correction has been made and the correct file uploaded as revision 4.1 of the code list.
23 July 2014Press Release issued - UNECE and OSCE train participants from Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on cross-border trade and trade facilitation.
22 July 2014Press Release issued - International Organizations Commit to Coordinated Assistance for Implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement.
17 July 2014: A 60 day public review is open for the proposed recommendation of Consultation Approaches, started in 2010.
This proposed recommendation aims to  provide support to countries implementing the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement; it also complements the UNECE Recommendation 4 on National Trade Facilitation Bodies. This proposed recommendation proposes clear guidance on how to set up effective consultation in a way which is acceptable to both Public and Private actors, providing concrete examples and a tool box for implementation.
The final draft for public review and the template for all comments are available at the Public Review section of the project.
 Comments should be submitted to the Project Leader, Josephine Baiamonte using the comment template.
20 June 2014: UNECE Secretariat has released the 2014-1 UN/LOCODE directory.
30 May 2014: As part of efforts to adjust UN/CEFACT technical specifications to emerging requirements, this is to announce the publication of Version 2.1 of the XML Naming and Design Rules (NDR) for version 2.01 of the Core Component Technical Specification (CCTS). It provides for the use of relative path names and makes bounded code lists explicitly optional. 
Follow-up contact: Project Leader
27 May 2014: The UN/EDIFACT directory version D.14A has been approved by BPS Validation Team and is now available on the UN/EDIFACT website. The files can be downloaded from UN/EDIFACT Directory.
20 May 2014: The UN/CEFACT Schema library version D.13B has been approved and is now available along with the validation report.
15 April 2014: Call for Participation on Project "Recommendation for ensuring legally significant trusted transboundary electronic interaction".
The UN/CEFACT Regulatory Program Development Area is pleased to announce the UN/CEFACT Bureau's decision to launch the "Recommendation for ensuring legally significant trusted transboundary electronic interaction" project. The project proposal and other details are available here.
The purposes of this project are:
- to formulate basic principles and prepare a recommendation on establishing coordinating infrastructures for enabling legal significance of trans-boundary electronic interaction in trade scenarios;
- to study infrastructures for trans-boundary electronic interaction in trade scenarios in view of identifying the UNECE recommendations package on the subject.
Participation in this project is open to experts with broad knowledge in the area of methodologies and technologies for data transport infrastructures, electronic signatures and related certification authorities, and message handling systems. Heads of Delegations may invite technical experts from their constituency to participate in the work to foster global participation.
The first meeting of the project took place during the 23rd UN/CEFACT Forum in Geneva, 7-11 April 2014. 
To register interest in participation or for more information please contact Mr. Alexander Sazonov, Project Leader.
11 April 2014: The 20th Plenary session of the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) took place in Geneva from 10 to 11 April, alongside the 23rd UN/CEFACT Forum attended by 150 experts from over 30 countries and International Organizations.
Following the WTO Bali Agreement on Trade Facilitation in December 2013, and as preparations are made for its formal implementation, the goal of facilitating international trade has been globally acknowledged and is at the heart of increasing efforts to provide more effective and efficient services for governments, the private sector and citizens.
Recognition was given to the great value of UN/CEFACT’s long-standing role in providing globally relevant trade facilitation recommendations and standards and renewed attention was given to supporting the WTO Bali Agreement.
A new management team under the leadership of the existing UN/CEFACT Chair, Mr. Stuart Feder, was elected and now includes the following Vice Chairs from government: Mr. Raffaele Fantetti (Italy), Ms. Estelle Igwe (Nigeria), Mr. Tahseen Khan (India), Mr. Harm Jan van Burg (the Netherlands) and Vice Chairs from the private sector (who were nominated by governments): Mr. Anders Grangård (Sweden) and Mr. Lance Thompson (the United States). They were elected for a period of three years.
The next UN/CEFACT Forum will take place in New Delhi, India, in October 2014.
28 March 2014: Call for Participation on Project "Requirements document on conformance and interoperability of standards".
The UN/CEFACT Methodology and Technology Program Development Area is pleased to announce the UN/CEFACT Bureau's decision to launch the "Requirements document on conformance and interoperability of standards" project. The project proposal and other details are available here.
The objective of this project is to investigate how self-conformance statements should be specified and be made publicly available to enable transparency in reporting of how standards are implemented, especially in respect of solutions involving common semantics and re-usable data models that are technology neutral. Specifically the project will document requirements related to 

  • ways in which user communities can identify and declare conformance with standards in order to foster interoperability, 
  • how self-conformance statements can be made publicly available to improve transparency in the actual implementation and use of standards.

Participation in this project is open to experts with broad knowledge in the area of business standards and methodologies in the context of cross-domain, cross-border requirements and solutions in trade facilitation and electronic business. Heads of Delegations may invite technical experts from their constituency to participate in the work to foster global participation.
The first meeting of the project will take place during the 23rd UN/CEFACT Forum in Geneva, 7-11 April 2014. 
To register interest in participation or for more information please contact Mr. Jostein Frømyr, Project Leader.
20 March 2014: "Call for Participation" on Project "Journal Book".
The UN/CEFACT Sectoral Program Development Area Supply Chain domain is pleased to announce the UN/CEFACT Bureau's decision to launch the Journal Book project. The project proposal, sign-up information, and other details are available here.
The scope of this project is to build a standard accounting book, sorted by journals, as needed for bookkeeping, accounting and auditing practices. A special attention is drawn to the archival of accounting books.
As such the project will complement the existing UN/CEFACT business standards for accounting that cater for entries sorted by vouchers, periods, and by accounts.
The new standard will enable exchanges sorted by journals.
Experts with experience in accounting practices and/or cloud-based services for small and medium-size businesses are invited to sign-up. The first meeting of the project will take place during the 23rd UN/CEFACT Forum in Geneva, 7-11 April 2014.
To register interest in participation or for more information please contact Mr. Benoît Marchal, Project Leader.
12 March 2014:  The UN/EDIFACT directory version D.13B has been approved by BPS Validation Team and is now available on the UN/EDIFACT website.
10 February 2014: UN/CEFACT has approved the Core Component Library D.13B for publication.  Any comments on the standard should be sent to Peter Amstutz, Bureau Vice Chair.

2013

20 December 2013: UNECE Secretariat has released the 2013-2 UN/LOCODE directory.
12 December 2013: The posted zip file for the D13A XML schemas has been found to have some files which were not the latest versions. An corrected directory is now available on the website.
5 December 2013: "Call for Participation" on Project "Destination Travel Information (DTI) Process".
The UN/CEFACT Sectoral Program Development Area / Travel and Tourism domain is pleased to announce the UN/CEFACT Bureau decision on 15 October 2013 to launch the project on "Destination Travel Information (DTI) Process". To register interest in participation or for more information please contact Giljun Ko, Project Chair, or Akio Suzuki

11 April 2014: The 20th Plenary session of the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) took place in Geneva from 10 to 11 April, alongside the 23rd UN/CEFACT Forum attended by 150 experts from over 30 countries and International Organizations.

Following the WTO Bali Agreement on Trade Facilitation in December 2013, and as preparations are made for its formal implementation, the goal of facilitating international trade has been globally acknowledged and is at the heart of increasing efforts to provide more effective and efficient services for governments, the private sector and citizens.

Recognition was given to the great value of UN/CEFACT’s long-standing role in providing globally relevant trade facilitation recommendations and standards and renewed attention was given to supporting the WTO Bali Agreement.

A new management team under the leadership of the existing UN/CEFACT Chair, Mr. Stuart Feder, was elected and now includes the following Vice Chairs from government: Mr. Raffaele Fantetti (Italy), Ms. Estelle Igwe (Nigeria), Mr. Tahseen Khan (India), Mr. Harm Jan van Burg (the Netherlands) and Vice Chairs from the private sector (who were nominated by governments): Mr. Anders Grangård (Sweden) and Mr. Lance Thompson (the United States). They were elected for a period of three years.

The next UN/CEFACT Forum will take place in New Delhi, India, in October 2014.

28 March 2014: Call for Participation on Project "Requirements document on conformance and interoperability of standards".
The UN/CEFACT Methodology and Technology Program Development Area is pleased to announce the UN/CEFACT Bureau's decision to launch the "Requirements document on conformance and interoperability of standards" project. The project proposal and other details are available here.
The objective of this project is to investigate how self-conformance statements should be specified and be made publicly available to enable transparency in reporting of how standards are implemented, especially in respect of solutions involving common semantics and re-usable data models that are technology neutral. Specifically the project will document requirements related to 
  • ways in which user communities can identify and declare conformance with standards in order to foster interoperability, 
  • how self-conformance statements can be made publicly available to improve transparency in the actual implementation and use of standards.
Participation in this project is open to experts with broad knowledge in the area of business standards and methodologies in the context of cross-domain, cross-border requirements and solutions in trade facilitation and electronic business. Heads of Delegations may invite technical experts from their constituency to participate in the work to foster global participation.
The first meeting of the project will take place during the 23rd UN/CEFACT Forum in Geneva, 7-11 April 2014. 
To register interest in participation or for more information please contact Mr. Jostein Frømyr, Project Leader.
20 March 2014: "Call for Participation" on Project "Journal Book".
The UN/CEFACT Sectoral Program Development Area Supply Chain domain is pleased to announce the UN/CEFACT Bureau's decision to launch the Journal Book project. The project proposal, sign-up information, and other details are available here.

The scope of this project is to build a standard accounting book, sorted by journals, as needed for bookkeeping, accounting and auditing practices. A special attention is drawn to the archival of accounting books.  As such the project will complement the existing UN/CEFACT business standards for accounting that cater for entries sorted by vouchers, periods, and by accounts.  The new standard will enable exchanges sorted by journals. Experts with experience in accounting practices and/or cloud-based services for small and medium-size businesses are invited to sign-up. The first meeting of the project will take place during the 23rd UN/CEFACT Forum in Geneva, 7-11 April 2014.
To register interest in participation or for more information please contact Mr. Benoît Marchal, Project Leader.
12 March 2014:  The UN/EDIFACT directory version D.13B has been approved by BPS Validation Team and is now available on the UN/EDIFACT website.
10 February 2014: UN/CEFACT has approved the Core Component Library D.13B for publication.  Any comments on the standard should be sent to Peter Amstutz, Bureau Vice Chair.
20 December 2013: UNECE Secretariat has released the 2013-2 UN/LOCODE directory
12 December 2013: The posted zip file for the D13A XML schemas has been found to have some files which were not the latest versions. An corrected directory is now available on the website.
5 December 2013: "Call for Participation" on Project "Destination Travel Information (DTI) Process".
The UN/CEFACT Sectoral Program Development Area / Travel and Tourism Domain is pleased to announce the UN/CEFACT Bureau decision on 15 October 2013 to launch the project on "Destination Travel Information (DTI) Process".
To register interest in participation or for more information please contact Giljun Ko, Project Chair, or Akio Suzuki, Domain Coordinator.
19 November 2013:  A 60 day public review is open for version 2.1 of the UN/CEFACT Naming and Design Rules for CCTS 2.01 (NDR 2.1). This aims to enable easier maintenance and production of Schema.
The revised draft focuses on two areas. The first is making the Unqualified Data Type Schema an informative, rather than a normative part of the standard, thus enabling easier maintenance. This would allow the Data Types to be updated without a corresponding update of these Naming and Design Rules.  The second area is the removal of absolute path names (to the UNECE website) for Schema enabling more portability of Schema. 
The revised draft (with the change log from NDR 2.0) and the template for all comments are available at Public review page of the project.
All comments should be submitted to the Project Leader, Chris Hassler
8 November 2013:  In addition to mentioned errors in UN/EDIFACT directory version D.13A another error (missing code DPL in data element 8053) was found and is now corrected. Updated directory is available on the UN/EDIFACT website.

6 November 2013: "Call for Participation" on Project "Reutilization of Data from Utility Management System".
The UN/CEFACT Sectoral Program Development Area / Utility Domain is pleased to announce the UN/CEFACT Bureau decision to launch the project on "Reutilization of Data from Utility Management System".  To register interest in participation or for more information please contact Shingo Sakaguchi.
6 November 2013: The UN/CEFACT Schema library version D.13A has been approved and is now available along with the validation report and release notes. Any comments on the standard should be sent to  Peter Amstutz, Bureau Vice Chair.
5 November 2013:  Registration for the 23rd UN/CEFACT Forum in Geneva (April 7 to 11, 2014) is now open.
24 October 2013:  The mentioned errors in the August 27 announcement have been corrected and the UN/EDIFACT directory version D.13A is now available on the UN/EDIFACT website.
11 September 2013: UN/CEFACT has approved the Core Component Library D.13A for publication.  Any comments on the standard should be sent to Peter Amstutz, Bureau Vice Chair.
9 September 2013: "Call for Participation" on Project "Animal traceability data exchange"
The UN/CEFACT Sectoral Agriculture Program Development Area is pleased to announce the UN/CEFACT Bureau decision to launch the project on "Animal traceability data exchange".
To express interest in participation or for more information, please contact project leader Mr. Bruno Prepin.
4 September 2013: A 90 day public review is open for the Revision of Recommendation 14 Project “Authentication of Trade Documents”. The proposed revised draft was developed by the UN/CEFACT Trade and Transport Facilitation PDA to update the recommendation in light of the past thirty years of technological developments and vocabulary changes. The resulting text aims at high level decision makers to assist in implementing authentication of electronically transmitted documents.
The revised draft is available at: http://www1.unece.org/cefact/platform/download/attachments/48563016/130808+Rec14+text+-+draft+v1_1.pdf
Please download the following template for all comments: http://www1.unece.org/cefact/platform/download/attachments/48563016/130808+Rec14+Public+Review+Comment+Template.docx
All comments should be submitted to the Project Leader, Lance THOMPSON before November 30th 2013.
30 August 2013: "Call for Participation" Project on Transboundary movements of waste XML schema
This is to announce a call for participation in a project to provide an international standard for the electronic exchange of information as specified by the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal. The project’s scope deals with information exchange associated with the risks of adverse effects to human health and the environment involving transboundary movements of waste.
Those involved in these exchanges are competent authorities, exporters of waste, importers of waste and recovery or disposal facilities. The Basel Convention was adopted on 22 March 1989 and 180 countries were party to the convention by 2013. The project will review existing materials with key parties and the Basel Convention Secretariat to review issues needing to be addressed. All those interested are invited to take contact with the project leader Norbert Pfaffinger for the project proposal and further information.
27 August 2013: The UN/EDIFACT directory version D.13A has been approved by BPS Validation Team and is now available on the UN/EDIFACT website.
NB! Due to issues in the development of UN/EDIFACT directory D.13A, users are strongly advised to refrain from implementing the BAPLIE and GOVCBR message from D.13A.
We are in the process of correcting the errors, and will publish a corrected version as soon as possible.
22 July 2013: Draft  document “An integrated strategic framework for UN/CEFACT deliverables” has been submitted to the Heads of Delegation for intersessional approval until 23 September 2013.
5 July 2013: "Call for Participation" Project on Updating the Naming and Design Rules for CCTS 2.01 to version 2.1 (NDR 2.1).  Experience within UN/CEFACT using the UN/CEFACT XML Naming and Design Rules version 2.0 has identified some areas for possible improvement to enable easier production and maintenance XML Schemas.  Therefore, a call for participation is announced for a project to update Naming and Design Rules version 2.0 for CCTS 2.01 to version 2.1.   As a minor version this update will be backward compatible with version 2.0.
The purpose of this revision is to enable easier maintenance and future production of XML Schemas and will initially focus on two areas:

  • The first is making the Unqualified Data Type Schema an informative, rather than a normative, part of the standard.
  • The second area is to enable relative path names for Schema locations.

Any additional changes suggested as part of requirements gathering will also be considered.  
To register interest in participation or for more information please contact Chris Hassler.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



5 July 2013: UNECE Secretariat has released the 2013-1 UN/LOCODE directory
3 July 2013: The registration for the 22nd UN/CEFACT Forum in Italy (14-18 October 2013) is now open. Please access the Forum website.
24 June 2013: “Call for Participation” for Project concerning Background Research on Public-Private-Partnership for Trade Facilitation
This is to announce a call for participation in a project concerning Background Research on Public-Private-Partnership for Trade Facilitation. Launched from within the Trade and Transport Facilitation Programme Development Area. It will involve gathering information on PPP in trade facilitation, identifying best practices and then assessing if added value can be brought by suggesting a UNECE recommendation on the subject.
All of those interested are invited to quickly take contact with one of this project’s co-chairs: Dr. Lance Thompson and Mr. Malcolm McKinnon.
Follow the link mentioned above for project proposal and for more information.

19 June 2013:  UN/CEFACT's Core Component Library (CCL) is based on the UN/CEFACT Core Component Technical Specification (CCTS). This is to announce 60-day public reviews until August 20th concerning developments relating to CCTS Version 3.0.
CCTS 3.0 addresses functionality requirements requested by stakeholders of UN/CEFACT deliverables. In view of the existing user community dependent on the current CCL (CCTS 2.01), maintenance activities will continue for both as long as there is demand for changes as well as to provide for its use in new developments.
UN/CEFACT's first implementation of CCTS 3.0 has advanced to the stage where a draft CCL (CCTS 3.0) has been developed and validated. It is now being made available for public review for 60-days until August 20th. Please use the Public Comment Log provided (this can be found in the Public Review page) to facilitate the preparation of a Disposition Log by the Project Team.
In addition to, and based upon, this draft CCL (CCTS 3.0), draft Requirements Specification Mappings (RSMs) together with corresponding XML schemas (based on the XML Naming and Design Rules Version 3.0) are provided with respect to:
Please use the Public Comment Log provided in the project packages referred to above to facilitate the preparation of a Disposition Log by the Project Team.
For further information please contact Chris Hassler
18 June 2013: The UN/CEFACT Sectoral Agriculture Program Development Area is pleased to announce the UN/CEFACT Bureau decision to launch the project on Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) Notification Exchange.To participate in the project please contact Project Leader Mr. Philippe Loopuyt
23 May 2013: The UN/CEFACT Trade and Transport Facilitation Programme Development Area is pleased to announce its plans to re-launch its project on a Recommendation on Consultation Approaches.
In order to implement trade facilitation, coordination between government agencies is necessary, just as well as consultation with all other stakeholders. This is recognised not least in the trade facilitation negotiations in the WTO Doha-round, where national trade facilitation committees are suggested. Consultation mechanisms can, for example, be collaborative platforms, task forces, inter-institutional working groups or trade facilitation committees. They may involve all key stakeholders from the public and private sector who have a role to play in the national trade facilitation agenda.
An integral and important part of how trade facilitation has come to develop in many economies is the active participation of civil society, especially traders’ organisations and PRO-bodies, in the development of rules and regulations. Traders, economic operators, chambers of commerce and other associations organising the stakeholders directly involved in trade have first-hand knowledge of how the current legislation affects them and what simplifications they would like to see. In that context, however, it is worth noting that different private sector operators may not always have the same interests. Importers and exporters, users and providers, larger and smaller companies, producers and traders, may all have different needs and priorities when it comes to trade facilitation reforms, just as government agencies have different mandates and tasks.
In order to promote the creation of effective and efficient consultation mechanisms there needs to be light shed on the approaches that have facilitated consultation in the past, to guide those who are looking at supporting an active participation from a wide range of stakeholders in the consultation process. A new recommendation would aim at describing best practice in approaches to consultation.
Participation in the Project: Membership is open to experts with broad knowledge in the area of public-private consultations, intra-governmental consultations and the organisation of civil society. Experts that can contribute both with examples of how trade and trade organisations coordinate positions and policy and of consultation between trade and government are especially welcome to participate. Experts are expected to contribute to the work based solely on their expertise and to comply with the UN/CEFACT Code of Conduct and the UN/CEFACT Intellectual Property Rights Policy. 
To participate in the project please contact Project Leader Johan Pontén.
29 April 2013: The UN/CEFACT Forum - a meeting of experts from around the world working within the global remit of the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) and an intergovernmental body of the UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) - held its 21th session at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from 15 to 19 of April 2013.

Public-private sector participants included over 140 business and technology experts from more than 30 UN Member States, the United Nations (UNECE, UNCITRAL and UNCTAD) and international organizations, including the European Union the World Customs Organization (WCO), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA), the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), Global Standards One (GS1). Other Experts located around the globe contributed through teleconferencing.

A special session of the Forum was dedicated to exchange information and knowledge with the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) and to better understand the need of the CIS Countries.

Efforts focused on business processes both for governments and for the private sector in electronic business and trade facilitation. Experts contributed their skills and experience from a wide range of domains: accounting/audit, agriculture, customs, finance/payments, government, insurance, international trade procedures, procurement, supply-chain management and transport and logistics.

UN/CEFACT’s approach is highly cross-sectoral, as confirmed by the development and maintenance of standards and projects addressed during the Forum, such as the UN/EDIFACT, Core Component Library, Cross-industry invoice, e-Tendering, Contract Financial Execution Management.
 
The Forum made progress in current projects and plans for future developments (i.e. , public-private partnership and consultation models), as well as in the maintenance of existing recommendations and standards, including the ongoing revision of Recommendation on the authentication of trade documents by means other than signature and on Single Window Interoperability.
 
Consumers and governments expressed strong demands concerning food safety. In a complex agricultural supply chain these food safety demands require perfect tracking and tracing systems as well as good product information. UN/CEFACT is addressing these concerns through a number of projects.

UN/CEFACT standards are used worldwide by Governments and business communities, for example UN/EDIFACT (United Nations Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport) since 1987; and sectors such as agriculture are increasingly using UN/CEFACT standards. For example eCertification (eCert) has already been adopted by 42 countries.
 
An official liaison has also been created between UN/CEFACT and ISO Technical Committee on Financial Services (TC68).

Further Information on UNCEFACT may be found at www.uncefact.org as well as on the UNECE You Tube space.
23 April 2013: The UN/CEFACT Schema library version D.12B has now been approved and is now available. The audit report will follow.
12 March 2013: The UN/CEFACT has approved the Core Component Library D.12B for publication.  Any comments on the above should be sent to Peter Amstutz, Bureau Vice Chair.
7 March 2013: UNECE has released the 2012-2 UN/LOCODE directory
26 November 2012: The UN/EDIFACT directory version D12.B has been approved and is now available on the UN/EDIFACT website
Note: Due to incorrect updating of a temporarily assigned data element tag (6701 for 'Diameter measure') this published tag number is incorrect and should not be used. The tag number will be updated in the next directory  (D13.A). Any comments on the above should be sent to Peter Amstutz, Bureau Vice Chair.

16 November 2012: UNECE and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding, by which they decided to adopt a complementary approach to the standardization process in domains of mutual interest by strengthening their relationship and fostering closer cooperation. The domains include electronic signatures, security for XML documents and messages, and transport logistics related to Intelligent Transport Systems. ETSI and UNECE have a shared interest in working together on developing international standards, and avoiding duplication of technical work.
ETSI is an industry-led standards-development organization. It carries out pre-standardization and standardization activities in areas common to telecommunications, information technology, sound and television broadcasting. Its objective is to undertake and promote, directly or indirectly, regional and international standardization to contribute to setting up a global information infrastructure.
The UNECE’s United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) develops trade facilitation recommendations and electronic business standards. These cover government to government, government to business and commercial processes intended to foster growth in international trade and related services. UN/CEFACT supports activities dedicated to improving the ability of business, trade and administrative organizations, from developed, developing and transition economies, to exchange products and relevant services effectively.
 7 November 2012: UN/CEFACT Library Maintenance Team has approved revisions to code lists of recommendations 20, 21 and 23
12 October 2012: UN/CEFACT Bureau has approved the project proposal on Alignment of Master Data for Metering Point and of Measured Data in the deregulated Energy Market (AMD MP & MD).  Project Leader, C. Sparreboom, is pleased to announce the Bureau's plans to launch the project and issue this call for participation. The project proposal, sign-up information, and other details are available.
3 October 2012: The registration for the 21st UN/CEFACT Forum in Geneva (April 15 to 19, 2013) is now open. Please access the Forum website.
26 September 2012: 20th UN/CEFACT Forum marks progress on electronic business and trade facilitation processes
14 September 2012: UNECE has released the 2012-1 UN/LOCODE directory
7 September  2012: The UN/CEFACT International Trade Procedures Domain is pleased to announce the UN/CEFACT Bureau decision to launch a project aiming at the elaboration and publication of a recommendation and guidelines on requirements for Single Window Interoperability.
The project proposal and a background-paper are available at the following web pages:
http://www1.unece.org/cefact/platform/display/CNP/P1002+-+ODP+1+-+Project+Inception
http://www1.unece.org/cefact/platform/pages/viewpageattachments.action?pageId=48562923
To participate in the project please contact Project Leader Mr Rémy Marchand
The UN/CEFACT recommendations respectively entitled “Recommendation and Guidelines on establishing a Single Window” [Recommendation 33], “Data Simplification and Standardization for International Trade” [Recommendation 34], “Establishing a legal framework for international trade Single Window“ [Recommendation35], have been produced between 2005 and 2010 and have created momentum in many countries and alliance of countries. Although their implementations are normally producing converging results, a number of national particularities result in differences which prevent their interconnection of Single Windows developed independently, except when regional alliances have been established.
The purpose of this recommendation is therefore to advise implementers on best practices to encourage the development of Single Window interoperable from their inception
  • Recommendation on Single Window Interoperability;
  • Guidelines on Single Windows Interoperability; and
  • Case Repository for Single Window Interoperability
Most work and discussions would be done on conference calls and using e-Collaboration facilities. UN/CEFACT expects to have finished an internal review of the Recommendation around the end of the first quarter of 2013. There would also be two face-to-face meetings during the UN/CEFACT forums.
The next forum is planned to be held in Vienna from 17 to 21 September 2012 at the TU Wien (Vienna University of Technology). For registration follow this link: http://www.unece.org/index.php?id=29610
The meeting for the Recommendation 36 editorial group is planned for 18 and 19 September 2012 at the UN/CEFACT Forum in Vienna.
We remind you that the Recommendations 33, 34 and 35 can be found on the webpage dedicated to the publication of all UN Recommendations
5 September 2012:  The UN/EDIFACT directory version D12.A has been approved and is now available on the UN/EDIFACT website.
30 August 2012: A 60 day public review is open for the updated “Cargo Tracing and Tracking Project”. The specification was developed by the UN/CEFACT Trade and Transport Facilitation PDA to describe how to establish coherent transport-centric logistics standard by analysing information systems for business processes handling logistics activities and by standardising interfaces (data model) among logistics activities in each system and offline standards. The final goal of the specification is to provide standard interface model for seamless logistics. Please download the Public review documents and comment log and comments should be submitted to the Project Leader, Kerri Ahn before 3 November 2012.
30 August 2012: The UN/CEFACT International Trade Procedures Domain is pleased to announce the UN/CEFACT Bureau decision to launch a project aiming at the revision of Recommendation 14 on “Authentication of Trade Documents by Means Other than Signature”.

The project proposal (brief summary below) and a background paper are available at the following web page:Project Proposal and Background Paper

To participate in the project please contact Project Leader Lance Thompson.

The UN/CEFACT Recommendation 14 entitled “Authentication of Trade Documents by Means other than signature” was drafted in 1979 and is seriously outdated. The working group within UN/CEFACT which is responsible for this type of recommendation has suggested to revise and update the recommendation and hopefully render it capable of withstanding the test of time.
 
The work to be done includes:
1.    Reworking the present recommendation in order to reflect all regulatory and technical changes since 1979
2.    Creating a repository which can accommodate case studies that exist to date (legal environment and implementation).
3.    Create a repository of examples of solutions which can replace a manual signature (technical solution).

Most work and discussions would be done on conference calls. UN/CEFACT hopes to have a draft of the recommendation ready within a few months’ time and then take the time to create the two repositories. There would also be two face-to-face meetings during the UN/CEFACT forums.
 
The next forum is planned to be held in Vienna from 17 to 21 September 2012 at the TU Wien (Vienna University of Technology). The meeting for the Recommendation 14 Revision group is planned for Tuesday, September 18th.  Please download the original, 1979 Recommendation 14.
15 August 2012:  The UN/EDIFACT directory version D11.B has been approved and is now available on the UN/EDIFACT website.
13 August 2012:  UN/CEFACT has approved publication of the Core Components Business Document Assembly Technical Specification (CCBDA) version 1.0.
UN/CEFACT’s CCBDA describes how to construct syntax independent Business Documents based on UN/CEFACT Core Components and defines the basic structure of Business Documents in a syntax and technology neutral way.
24 July 2012: The UN/CEFACT Schema library version D.11B has now been approved and is now available. The audit report will follow.
15 June 2012: UN/CEFACT is inviting interested parties to participate in a project to standardise the data exchanges between Flag States of fishing vessels and other parties relating to electronic logbooks, involving countries or Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMO)
The project concentrates on data exchanges and data management related to electronic logbooks. It aims to:
  • Harmonise and standardise the business processes and data exchanges of electronic logbooks
  • Attain a common approach towards electronic logbooks for fishing vessels, interoperability between IT systems and easy exchange of data between parties.
The project proposal is available at:
http://www1.unece.org/cefact/platform/display/CNP/Electronic+Interchange+of+fisheries+catch+data
The start of the requirements gathering stage is planned by 31 July 2012.
All interested UN/CEFACT experts are invited to participate in and contribute to the project. Participants should have expertise in the areas of with broad knowledge in the area of public-private consultations, intra-governmental consultations and the organisation of civil society.
Heads of Delegations may invite technical experts with proven knowledge in the domain of interest from their constituency to participate in the work. Experts are expected to contribute to the work based solely on their expertise and to comply with the UN/CEFACT Code of Conduct.

Expressions of interest to participate or requests for further information may be sent by e-mail to the project leader Francky Callewaert.
14 June 2012: The registration for the 20th UN/CEFACT Forum in Vienna is open.  Please access the Forum website.
23 April 2012: Press Release from the 19th UN/CEFACT Forum: UN/CEFACT Developments on track.
11 April 2012: UN/CEFACT is inviting interested parties to participate in a project to create a joint Technical Report with ISO (ISO/TC 154) to define a consistent and timely way to address and resolve issues of gaps, overlaps, and counter-productive standardisation efforts through:
  • Describing a coordinated "Open Data Interchange" framework, fostering an integrated work program to meet stakeholder needs in administration, commerce and trade, and
  • Describing a collaboration process, involving business processes and supporting data that facilitate the open electronic interchange of structured data
The goal is to evaluate experiences and describe a common technical framework that will engage other key players involved in standards development and encourage greater consistency and effectiveness of technical specifications and standards.

The project will:
  • Identify the broad scope of technical specifications and standards, work programmes and strategies for the open interchange of structured data in support of administration, commerce and trade
  • Identify the relationships and dependencies of the above
  • Identify what is missing in the above in order to provide a complete technical framework
  • Propose ways forward such as, division of labor to avoid duplication of work and to foster coherence in work programmes and strategies.
The project proposal is available at https://sites.google.com/a/documentengineeringservices.com/methodology-and-technology-pda/technical-framework/documents/OpenDataInterchangeTechnicalReportProjectProposalMarch192012.pdf.

The start of the requirements gathering stage is planned at the UN/CEFACT Spring Forum, 16-20 April 2012.

All interested UN/CEFACT experts are invited to participate in and contribute to the project. Participants should have expertise in the areas of with broad knowledge in the area of methodologies and technologies for the open electronic interchange of structured data. Heads of Delegations may nominate technical experts from their constituency to participate in the work.  This project is also open to members of ISO liaison organizations through the ISO work item reference ISO/TC 154 N 0659.  Expressions of interest to participate or requests for further information may be sent by e-mail to the project leader Tim McGrath.
21 March 2012: The UN/CEFACT has approved the Core Component Library D.11B for publication.  Any comments on the above should be sent to Peter Amstutz, Bureau Vice Chair.
19 March 2012: A 60 day public review is open for the updated "Core Components Business Document Assembly Technical Specification Version 1.0".  The specification was developed by the UN/CEFACT Methodology & Technology PDA to describe how to construct syntax independent Business Documents based on UN/CEFACT Core Components and defines the basic structure of Business Documents in a syntax and technology neutral way.
The draft document is available.  Comments should be submitted to Sue Probert before 14 May 2012 using the comment log.
16 March 2012: The UN/CEFACT Schema library version D.11A has now been approved and is now available. The audit report will follow.
8 March 2012: UN/CEFACT is inviting interested parties to participate in the Legal Notice Publication project. This is a project designed to create Business Process Models and Business Class Diagrams for documenting the business scenarios and business transactions involved in legal notice publication (LNP).

This project covers the process of notices publication when it is compulsory for individuals, companies or organizations to communicate to the general public a given information in a defined format or media. This communication includes two elements: the information to be delivered and the means through which it is made public. The targeted audience of the publication is undetermined and anonymous.

The project will start with notice publication in the Public Procurement domain. The project proposal is available at http://www1.unece.org/cefact/platform/display/TBG/Legal+Notice+Publication+%28LNP%29. The start of the requirements gathering stage is planned at the UN/CEFACT Spring Forum, 16-20 April 2012 .

All interested parties are invited to participate in and contribute to the project. Participants should have expertise in the areas of publication services of legal notices and their e-government operation or in the electronic Public Procurement domain. This includes, amongst others, experts of official gazettes and other official legal publishing services, newspapers, tender platforms, applications and other tender and tender information services, public purchasers, authorities involved in supervising or evaluating the public market, and experts in other areas that may be concerned by the subject. Heads of Delegations may nominate technical experts from their constituency to participate in the work.

Participants are expected to contribute to the work based solely on their expertise and to comply with the UN/CEFACT Code of Ethics and the UN/CEFACT Intellectual Property Rights Policy.

Expressions of interest to participate (see form in the project proposal annex) or for further information may be sent by e-mail to the project leader Didier Hardy.
8 March 2012: A 60 day public review is open for the updated "Rules For Presentation Of Standardized Message And Directories Documentation (R.1023) revision 12.0."  The revision was developed by the UN/CEFACT Methodology & Technology PDA for the purposes of correct formatting of a UN/EDIFACT message GOVCBR introduced in the release D.11B. The modification concerns the size of the segment position indicator for section 4.3.1, the segment table. This has now been increased from its initial size of 4 digits to 5 digits. The change may cause problems with programs that extract the information from the ASCII message directory (EDMD).
The draft document is available at https://sites.google.com/a/documentengineeringservices.com/methodology-and-technology-pda/rules-for-presentation-of-standardized-message-and-directories-documentation/documents/R1023rev12draft.pdf
Comments should be submitted to Gait Boxman before 16 April 2012.
28 February 2012: UNECE has released the 2011-2 UN/LOCODE directory.
28 February 2012: Registration for the 19th UN/CEFACT Forum in Geneva from 16 to 20 April 2012 is now officially open. Please visit the main Forum website for further information, including details about hotels, visas and other relevant matters
2 February 2012:  A 60 day public review is open for the updated Business Requirements Specification (BRS) and Requirements Specification Mapping (RSM) templates version 2.0.  These templates have been aligned with UN/CEFACT UMM Foundation Module Version 2.0 and UMM Base Module Version 2.0 and incorporate lessons learned from experience with earlier versions. Please submit any comments no later than April 3, 2012, using the comment logs. The draft templates and comment logs are available.  Comments should be submitted to Chris Hassler.
19 January 2012: The UN/CEFACT Core Component Technical Specification 3.0 defines the rules for developing Core Data Types and Business Data Types to define the value domains for Basic Core Components Basic Core Component Properties, Basic Business Information Entities, and Basic Business Information Entity Properties. It also stipulates that UN/CEFACT will publish a comprehensive list of approved Core Data Types and Business Data Types. The Core Components Data Type Catalogue Version 3.1 meets the first part of those publications. It contains the UN/CEFACT defined Core Data Types (CDTs). Business Data Types (BDTs) will be published in UN/CEFACT Directory Releases as part of the Core Component Library.  This Catalogue also contains a detailed listing and explanation of the underlying primitive types used by the Data Types. The specification is available at: http://www.unece.org/DAM/cefact/codesfortrade/CCTS/CCTS-DTCatalogueVersion3p1.pdf
2011
28 October: UN/CEFACT has approved publication of UN/CEFACT UMM Foundation Module Version 2.0 and UMM Base Module Version 2.0.
UN/CEFACT’s Modeling Methodology (UMM) is a UML modeling approach to design the business services that each partner must provide in order to collaborate. It provides the business justification for the services to be implemented in a service‐oriented collaboration architecture. Thus, a primary vision of UN/CEFACT is to capture the business knowledge that enables the development of low cost software based on service oriented architectures (SOA) helping the small and medium size companies (SMEs), and emerging economies to engage in e‐Business practices. UMM focuses on developing a global choreography of inter‐organizational business processes and their information exchanges. UMM models are notated in UML syntax and are platform independent models. The platform independent UMM models identify which services need to be realized in a service‐oriented architecture, implementing the business collaboration. This approach provides insurance against technical obsolescence.
The UMM Foundation Module Version 2.0 includes the core concepts of the UMM. In addition, it defines all the concepts that are used as part of the minimal methodology to produce a UMM compliant business collaboration model. Furthermore, it provides fundamental principles which are shared across all other modules. The specification is available at: http://www1.unece.org/cefact/platform/download/attachments/44204303/Specification_UMM_Foundation_Module_V2.0_TechnicalSpecification.pdf
The UMM Base Module Version 2.0 covers the fundamental principles that are shared across all the other modules, and is available at: http://www1.unece.org/cefact/platform/download/attachments/44204303/Specification_UMM_Base_Module_V2.0_TechnicalSpecification.pdf
A comment log of changes to the previous versions is available at: http://www1.unece.org/cefact/platform/download/attachments/44204303/CommentLog_UMM2.pdf
20 October: The Bureau has approved the UN/CEFACT Context Methodology (UCM) for implementation verification (ODP step 6). The implementation verification cycle is open until 14 January 2012. Comments should be sent to the Project Leader and Project Editor. The following zip file, containing a readme.txt file, is available on-line: https://www.unece.org/cefact/platform/download/attachments/44204152/Con…
29 September: Press Release from the 18th UN/CEFACT Forum: UN/CEFACT takes positive steps forward with streamlined structure.

17 August: Registration for the 18th UN/CEFACT Forum in Geneva from 19 to 23 September 2011 is now officially open.  Please go to the main site of the Forum for further information, including details about hotels, visas and other relevant matters.

The Plenary Bureau draws to the attention of UN/CEFACT Experts, Heads of Delegation, and their delegates the critical importance of participation in the forthcoming September Forum in Geneva. It is the first Forum to be organized by the Vice Chairs elected at the 8-9 July 2011 Plenary within the updated mandate, terms of reference and procedures of UN/CEFACT (ECE/TRADE/C/CEFACT/2010/15/Rev.2).

 Priorities at the Forum will be:

  • Implementing the new organizational structure, which involves Programme Development Areas (PDAs)
  • Advancing current projects and domain activities
  • Ongoing maintenance tasks (such as UN/EDIFACT Data Maintenance Requests)
  • Formulating and approving new projects under the new structure
  • Development of the Programme of Work for 2012-2013
  • Continuing liaison activities with external organisations
  •  Implementing Bureau Programme Support (BPS) activities

Participants can contribute to the implementation of the new organisation in many ways and will have opportunities to meet as part of PDAs, within projects and domains as well as helping specifically to facilitate the implementation of the revised structure.

Within the United Nations framework of the Economic and Social Council, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) serves as the focal point for trade facilitation recommendations and electronic business standards, covering both commercial and government business processes that can foster growth in international trade and related services. In this context, the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) was established, as a subsidiary, inter-governmental body of the UNECE Committee on Trade, mandated to develop a programme of work of global relevance to achieve improved worldwide coordination and cooperation in these areas.

UN/CEFACT supports activities dedicated to improving the ability of business, trade and administrative organizations, from developed, developing and transition economies, to exchange products and relevant services effectively. Its principal focus is on facilitating national and international transactions, through the simplification and harmonization of processes, procedures and information flows, and so contributing to the growth of global commerce.

The UN/CEFACT Forum, held twice a year, is a meeting of UN/CEFACT experts at one time in the same location and facilitates close liaison and full interaction. These UN/CEFACT experts develop trade facilitation Recommendations, eBusiness Standards and their supporting Technical Specifications.

Forum sessions are held bi-annually in different locations throughout the world. Information on previous Forums is available at https://www.unece.org/index.php?id=3145

18 July: Draft Recommendation 37 Signed Digital Evidence Interoperability Recommendation
On behalf of the Bureau, this is to advise that the 17th UN/CEFACT Plenary, 7-8 July 2011, decided to extend the review period for Recommendation 37 up to 12 September 2011. Consequently, the Plenary invited comments on Recommendation 37 to be submitted to the Project Team within the Open Development Process (ODP), and indicated that all comments will be responded to. The full text of the decision is provided below.
(Decision 11-8): “The Plenary decided to extend the review period for recommendation 37 within the Open Development Process no later than 12 September 2011 and invited comments on Recommendation 37 to the Project Team, which will be responded to.”
The date of 12 September 2011 is the deadline for the translation of documents for the December 2011 UN/CEFACT Plenary. The intention is to submit a revised version of the draft Recommendation 37 for Plenary approval in December. Contributors are requested to submit their comments by Friday 2 September 2011 in order to allow the project team the time to process them within the above deadline.
The project team proposes to hold an online conference call on Thursday 8 September 2011 starting at 3:00 pm CET for discussion on the comments received.
The process for submitting comments in ODP Public Review, and for accessing the core artifacts of Recommendation 37, are summarised below.
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Process for submitting comments on Recommendation 37
Information on the Open Development Process
Contributors wishing to submit comments should go to the UN/CEFACT Website, Projects, then Confluence. Recommendation 37 has been developed under TBG6 (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) and can be found on the above website as Project P071 “Security for XML Documents and Messages”.
The work on the Recommendation started in October 2006. The original project document was replaced in October 2008 by the first project document revision.
The Recommendation was in internal review (ODP 4) between 12.1.2010 and 19.2.2010.
TBG 6 published the ODP 4 comment log.
The Recommendation was in Public Review (ODP 5) between 7.6.2010 and 8.7.2010. TBG 6 published the ODP 5 comment log.
How to provide comments in the ODP 5
Recommendation 37 is developed under the ODP process approved by the Plenary in 2007 TRADE/R.650/Rev.4/Add.1/Rev.1 . The public review (ODP Step 5) is described in paragraph 51.
Any interested person or party may send comments. The comments should be sent directly to [email protected] and should contain at least the following information:
Submitter’s name
Submitter’s email address (all lower case)
Submitter’s international phone number
Submitter’s delegation (if applicable, with ISO country code)
Exact comment, including reference to the relevant part of the document
Proposed change, including the exact replacement or additional text
At the end of the comment period the project team will address all comments and publish a comment log as described in Annex 1 of the ODP document. This comment log will be made available through the project website on the same page as above.

15 July: The UN/CEFACT has approved the Core Component Library D.11A for publication.  Any comments on the above should be sent to Peter Amstutz, Bureau Vice Chair.

 

12 July: The UN/CEFACT Edifact directory version D.11A has been approved and is now available on the UN/EDIFACT website.

 

 

6 July: The UN/CEFACT Schema library version D.10A has now been approved and is now available on the UN/CEFACT website. The audit report will follow.  

16 June: TMG has approved the UN/CEFACT Context Methodology (UCM) for public review 2 (ODP step 5). The second review cycle is open until 5 July 2011. Comments should be sent to the Project Leader and Project Editor. The following documents are available on-line:

 20 May: UN/CEFACT is inviting interested parties to participate in defining the Procedure for CCTS 3 and NDR 3 Artefacts Publication. This is a cross permanent group project designed to create the procedures and initial publications for CCTS 3.0 and NDR version 3.0.
The purpose of the project is to define the procedures for the creation and publication of CCTS 3 and NDR 3 artefacts. The scope covers the entire process of creation of CCTS and NDR 3.0 artefacts, from inception to publication, including modelling, harmonization, schema production, audit, and publication. Further details of the project are provided in the Annex.
The expertise of participants should include specialised competence in the knowledge in standards production and publication and awareness of implementers’ expectations. Heads of Delegations may nominate technical experts from their constituency to participate in the work Participants are expected to contribute to the work based solely on their expertise and to comply with UN/CEFACT’s Code of Conduct and the UN/CEFACT Intellectual Property Rights Policy.
Expressions of interest and any requests for further information should be sent to the Procedure for CCTS 3 & NDR 3 Artefacts Publication Project team at the email address [email protected]

9 May: TMG is inviting interested parties to participate in the Core Component Business Document (CCBDA) project for a UN/CEFACT Technical Specification, which was approved by the FMG on 11 October 2010.
The purpose of this project is to develop a methodology for the development of syntax-neutral interoperable semantic business document structures based on the reuse of Aggregated Business Information Entity (ABIE) objects published in a Core Component Technical Specification conformant Core Component Library. The project will provide a specific methodology for design time assembly of business documents in a semantic and reusable order. A key objective will be to maximize interoperability and reusability of business documents by providing support for families of business documents. The document to be delivered is a Business Document Assembly Methodology. Further details of the project are provided in the attached Call for Participation

12 April: TBG 15 is inviting interested parties to participate in the Project on Consultation Models. The participation is invited in particular of representatives of the UN/CEFACT Forum Permanent and Work Groups, of Standard Development Organizations (SDOs), industry groups, country initiatives and other interested stakeholders, to ensure that the resultant recommendation will gain the widest possible level of acceptance and thereby achieve the widest future implementation, which will offer benefits for all member countries.
The expertise of participants should include specialized competence in the areas of public-private consultations, intra-governmental consultations and the organisation of civil society. In addition, Heads of Delegations may nominate technical experts from their constituency to participate in the work. Participants are expected to contribute to the work based solely on their expertise and to comply with UN/CEFACT’s Code of Conduct and the UN/CEFACT Intellectual Property Rights Policy.
Interested participants who are not currently TBG15 members should provide the following additional information:

  • Organization/Company Name and postal address
  • Contact voice phone number
  • Contact e-mail

Expressions of interest and any requests for further information should be sent to the consultation models project team at the email address [email protected].

11 April: TBG 15 is inviting interested parties to participate in the Project on Single Window Interoperability, covering the mechanism required for the interconnectivity of two or more Single Window facilities.
The participation is invited in particular of representatives of the UN/CEFACT Forum Permanent and Work Groups, of Standard Development Organizations (SDOs), industry groups, country initiatives and other interested stakeholders, to ensure that the resultant recommendation will gain the widest possible level of acceptance and thereby achieve the widest future implementation, which will offer benefits for all member countries.
The expertise of participants should include specialized competence in the area of Single Window implementation. In addition, Heads of Delegations may nominate technical experts from their constituency to participate in the work. Participants are expected to contribute to the work based solely on their expertise and to comply with UN/CEFACT’s Code of Conduct and the UN/CEFACT Intellectual Property Rights Policy.
Interested participants who are not currently TBG15 members should provide the following additional information:

  • Organization/Company Name and postal address
  • Contact voice phone number
  • Contact e-mail

Expressions of interest and any requests for further information should be sent to the Single Window interoperability project team at the email address [email protected]

11 April: ICG has approved revision 8 of the code lists for UNECE Recommendation 23 (Freight Cost Code – FCC).

1 April: Following the intersessional approval period that ended on 28 March, the document Draft revised mandate, terms of reference and procedures for UN/CEFACT (ECE/TRADE/C/CEFACT/2010/15/Rev. 1) has been approved with only editorial changes.

14 March: ATG has approved publication of the XMLForCCTS Technical Specification for implementation verification (Open Development Process, Step 6). This version incorporates all comments adjudicated during the Open Development Process Step 5 period. Instructions to implementers are available here. Organizations and individuals interested in participating in the implementation verification are asked to submit a registration form . New comments should be sent to the project leader Mike Rowell and lead editor Mark Crawford using the published comment log. The first review of comments will take place during the Global Meeting of Experts meeting 28 March - 1 April in Washington, D.C. Comments should be sent to [email protected] and [email protected]

1 March: Following the intersessional approval period that ended 11 February, two Recommendations have been approved and are available at Recommendations website:
 1) The Annex to UNECE Trade Facilitation Recommendation No. 6 “Aligned Invoice Layout Key for International Trade” to accommodate e-Invoicing
 2) Recommendation No. 34 "Data Simplification and Standardization for International Trade"
 As some countries made further comments on Draft Recommendation No. 37 "Signed Digital Evidence Interoperability Recommendation”, it is now being reviewed by the project team and will be discussed at the upcoming Global Meeting of Experts to be held in McLean, Virginia, USA, from 28 March to 1 April 2011.

25 February: TMG has approved another UML Profile for Core Components (UPCC) 3.0 draft for public review (ODP step 5 - 3rd review cycle). This review cycle is open until 25 March 2011. Comments should be sent to the Project Leader. The following documents are available on-line:
  - UPCC ODP5 Draft 3rd Iteration - 20110221
  - UPCC Comment Log

18 February: TMG has approved the UN/CEFACT Context Methodology (UCM) for public review (ODP step 5). The first review cycle is open until 18 March 2011. Comments should be sent to the Project Leader and Project Editor.
The following documents are available on-line:
  - UCM Working Draft , Revision [A51]
  - UCM Comment Log - ODP 4, Review 1
  - UCM Comment Log - ODP 4, Review 2

14 February: TBG has approved draft revision of Recommendation 12 for public review (ODP5) until 28 March 2011. Comments should be sent to the Chair of TBG15, Mr Johan Pontén.

2 February: UN/CEFACT has approved the Core Component Library D.10A for publication. It can be downloaded from CCL website. Any comments on the above should be sent to ICG Chair Michael Conroy.

14 January: ATG has approved the UN/CEFACT XML For CCTS Version 3.0 for public review (Open Development Process (ODP) Step 5) until 11 February 2011. Comments should be sent to the Project Leader and Project Editor. The Draft Specification and Comment Log can be found also at http://www1.unece.org/cefact/platform/display/ATG/ATG2+XML+For+CCTS+-+O…

14 January: ATG has released the XML NDR Version 3.0 Corrigendum 1. This Corrigendum corrects minor mistakes in an appendix for regular expressions for dates as well as language in the body that pointed to version 3.0 of the CCTS and Data Type Catalogue instead of Version 3 or future versions.