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UN/CEFACT - Highlights (2017)

21 December 2017: UNECE Secretariat has released the 2017-2 UN/LOCODE directory

12 December 2017: The Core Component Library (CCL) D17B and XML Schema D17B have been validated by the Validation Focal Point and approved for publication. They are now available on the UN/CEFACT website. 

21 November 2017:  UN/CEFACT is pleased to announce the opening of the 60-days Public review of the technical specifications for the electronic road consignment note (e-CMR Project). All eventual comments can be addressed using the prescribed template by 20 January 2018.

21 November 2017: Online registration for the 31st UN/CEFACT Forum in Geneva, Switzerland is open now.

15 November 2017: The UN/EDIFACT directory version D.17B has been validated by the BPS Validation Team and approved 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

6 October 2017: UN/CEFACT is pleased to launch a call for participation for the new project entitled "Sustainable Procurement" Project. The purpose of this project is to identify policies, standards and good practices for sustainable public and private procurement, and their impact on trade facilitation. The project also identifies common requirements and provides recommendations as to their use in such a way to minimize administrative burdens and facilitate cross border trade and access of  transition and developing economies to procurement opportunities worldwide, in line with both the WTO Government Procurement Agreement and the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement. For more information, contact the Project Leader: Enrico Camerinelli

3 October 2017: UN/CEFACT is please to announce the launch of a project on Single Submission Portals. In the recent terminology technical note, UN/CEFACT developped alternative vocabulary for solutions which can offer similar facilitation measure to a Single Window but that may not cover all the aspects of the Recommendation 33 definition. This project will develop guidance on one such type of solution, setting out the variations that may exist and what governments and trade can do to facilitate their establishment. If you would like more information, please contact the project lead, Ibrahima Diagne or co-lead Kepeng Li.

3 October 2017: UN/CEFACT is pleased to announce the launch of a project on Smart Containers. This project will look at the business processes and potential data to be exchanged between smart containers and the rest of the supply chain actors, notably in view of expediting border clearance. If you are interest in joining this project, please contact the project lead, Hanane Becha

18 September 2017: UN/CEFACT is please to announce the launch of a project on Canonical Models within the Harmonization Programme Development Area. This technical assessment of UN/CEFACT deliverables will check against the use of the UMM and the CCTS as well as address a global move towards event driven architecture. The deliverables will be internal documents to outline the way forward on this subject. The first official meetings will take place during the UN/CEFACT Forum in Rome, Italy on Tuesday, 3 October. If you are interested in joining this project, please contact the project lead, Tat Tsen Jonathon Koh.

28 July 2017: The UN/CEFACT Buy/Pay PDA is pleased to announce the opening of the Public Review period for the Extension of Cross Industry Technical Artefacts Project. The purpose of this project is to develop the technical artefacts needed to allow users to implement the business messages for cataloguing, quotation, ordering, delivering and remittance advice based on the SCRDM and Core Component Business Document Assembly (CCBDA). The UN/CEFACT Supply Chain Reference Data Model (SCRDM) is a standardized and harmonized semantic framework fully compliant with the UN/CEFACT Core Component Library. The SCRDM focusses on interoperability, re-use of supply chain core components (globally standardized semantics), and will speed-up and ease implementation.
It builds the foundation for deriving syntax-neutral CCBDA compliant semantic business models.
The five RSM for public review are available on CUE. Any comments should be submitted to the Project Lead Rolf Wessel using the Public Review Comment Template provided on CUE until 28 September 2017.

27 July 2017: The UN/CEFACT Bureau is happy to announce a call for candidatures for Domain Coordinators for the following groups: the TFIG Focal Point, the WTO-TFA Focal Point, the Cross-Border Management Domain, the e-Government Domain, the Specifications Domain, the Harmonization Focal Point, the Communication Team Focal Point, the BRS-RSM Harmonization Focal Point.
Domain Coordinators are nominated by the Bureau for a period of two years, renewable. The Terms of Reference of Domains and Domain Coordinators are available.
If you are interested in proposing your candidature, please see the documents linked. Deadline for submissions are 8 September 2017

13 July 2017: This is to announce a 60-day public review until 11 September 2017 concerning the Cross Industry Scheduling Supply Chain Project. All eventual comments can be addressed using the prescribed template to Hisanao Sugamata

13 July 2017: UNECE Secretariat has released the 2017-1 UN/LOCODE directory

11 July 2017: UNECE is please to announce the creation of two new working groups, recently approved by the Executive Committee.
A Team of Specialists on Sustainable Fisheries has been established to promote, facilitate and support the implementation of the Fisheries Language for Universal Exchange (FLUX) developed within the UN/CEFACT Agriculture Domain. This is a major step in helping support the achievement of the UN Sustainable Goal 14 on conserving and sustainably using oceans, seas and marine resources.
An Advisory Group on the United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations (UN/LOCODE) has also been established to ensure the maintenance and development of UN/LOCODE. UN/LOCODEs are an integral part of electronic exchanges and facilitate the comprehension of places associated with international trade, this group shall ensure a consistent and coherent management of these codes.
For more information, do not hesitate to contact the UNECE secretariat.

11 July 2017: This is to announce a 60-day public review until 11 September 2017 concerning the BRS of the eCMR Project .  All eventual comments can be addressed using the prescribed template to Evginya Iafaev.

10 July 2017: UN/CEFACT is pleased to announce that former chair, Lance Thompson has integrated the UNECE Secretariat as Chief of UN/CEFACT Support Unit. The Bureau decided to have a rotating acting-chairmanship until the next elections in April 2018.

The rotation will be as follows:

• 1 July – 18 September: VC Grangård
• 19 September – 16 October: VC Fantetti
• 17 October – 11 December: VC Igwe
• 12 December – 22 January: VC Probert
• 23 January – 25 February: VC Laughlan 
• 26 February – 16 March: VC Watt
• 17 March – 30 April: VC Khan

28 June 2017Online registration for the 30th UN/CEFACT Forum in Rome, Italy is open now.

22 June 2017:  UN/CEFACT Validation Focal Point has successfully verified the updated UN/EDIFACT D.17A directory and it is now available for download and browsing.

6 June 2017:  The revision 6 of the code list of trade facilitation recommendation 24 "Trade and Transport Status codes" has been approved by UN/CEFACT Validation Focal Point and is now available on the Recommendations website.

18 May 2017:  UN/CEFACT is pleased to announce the launch of a white paper project on paperless trade. This joint project with the World Economic Forum will aim to provide a short issue brief outlining the history, the current context and some best practices of paperless trade. The first conference call is scheduled for Friday, 26 May and the project aims to complete the first draft by July and the final draft for September 2017. If you are interested in joining this project, please contact the project lead, Lance Thompson.

4 May 2017: The UN/CEFACT Bureau is happy to announce a call for candidatures for Domain Coordinators.
Domain Coordinators are nominated by the Bureau for a period of two years, renewable. The Terms of Reference of Domains and Domain Coordinators are available.
If you are interested in proposing your candidature, please see the documents linked. Deadline for submissions are 9 June 2017.

3 May 2017: The Bureau of the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and eBusiness (UN/CEFACT), with support from the UNECE Secretariat, is conducting the first Survey on "UN/CEFACT Deliverables Use" to gather relevant data and information from UN/CEFACT Heads of Delegations, private sector, public sector as well as Standards Developing Organizations and academia. The results of this Survey will lead to the production of a Report on how and with what frequency UN/CEFACT deliverables are being used. The Report will be presented at the 24th UN/CEFACT Plenary in 2018. Kindly provide your input to the survey by 15 September 2017, by filling in the questionnaire.  For any questions or requests for additional information please contact Mrs. Maria Ceccarelli.

1 May 2017: This is to announce a 60-day public review until 1 July 2017 concerning the Traceability of Primary Natural Products from Plant or Animal Origin. All eventual comments can be addressed using the prescribed template to Niki Dieckmann.

1 May 2017: UN/CEFACT is pleased to launch a call for participation for the new project entitled “CII-BRS Repository.” The purpose of this project is to provide concrete examples of how the UN/CEFACT Cross Industry Invoice (CII) is being implemented through a repository of case studies and to provide guidance on implementation.  To register interest in participating or for more information, please contact Mr. Rolf Wessel. The development of this project can be followed on the Collaborative UN/CEFACT Environment project page

1 May 2017: Call for Participation Blockchain White Paper Project - UN/CEFACT is pleased to launch a call for participation for the new project entitled “Blockchain White Paper.” Blockchain is a relatively new information technology (IT) that is based on an innovative use of IT security tools. It has attracted a lot of attention due to its characteristics which reduce the need for trusted third parties and intermediaries. 

The purpose of this project is to explore:
  - How existing UN/CEFACT deliverables could be used by Blockchain application developers
  - Possible changes to existing UN/CEFACT deliverables, or new deliverables, that could be considered in order to support Blockchain trade-facilitation related applications.
  - How Blockchain technology could be used to facilitate trade and related business processes
To register interest in participating or for more information, please contact the project leader, Mrs. Virginia Cram Martos. The development of this project can be followed on the Collaborative UN/CEFACT Environment project page

10 April 2017: The Core Component Library (CCL) D17A and XML Schema have been validated by the Validation Focal Point and approved for publication. They are now available on the UN/CEFACT website.  In order to approve the usability of the CCL, we are pleased to announce that a new column (Short Name) has been added. When combined with the Dictionary Entry Name this will provide enhanced readability.

6 April 2017: The UNECE secretariat is very pleased to present its newly elected UN/CEFACT Bureau Vice Chairs, which were elected at the 23rd UN/CEFACT Plenary on 3 April 2017. In addition to the members of the previous Bureau, namely Mr. Harm Jan van Burg (The Netherlands), Mr. Raffaele Fantetti (Italy), Mr. Anders Grangård (Sweden), Ms. Estelle Igwe (Nigeria), Mr. Tahseen Khan (India), Ms. Sylvia (Sue) Probert (United Kingdom), and Chairman Lance Thompson (United States), the secretariat is welcoming the new Vice Chairs Mr. Colin Laughlan (Canada) and Mr. Ian Watt (Australia). The secretariat cordially congratulates all elected Bureau members and is looking forward to fruitful collaboration on trade facilitation and electronic business over the next three years.

13 March 2017: UN/CEFACT is pleased to launch a call for participation in the new project entitled "Code Management Project". The project’s purpose is to define the procedures and methodologies for code list creation, management and maintenance. The resulting rules and guidelines will primarily be mandated for the use of code lists within all UN/CEFACT deliverables. External organizations could use what is developed for their codes and codes lists. To register interest in participating or for more information please contact the project leader, Mr. Rolf Wessel. The development of this Project can be followed on the UN/CEFACT Collaboration Environment Project Page.

24 February 2017: This is to announce a 60-day public review until 26 April 2017 concerning the Purchase Order Financing Request project Business Requirement Specification All eventual comments can be addressed to  Fabio Sorrentino by using the provided Comment Template.

15 February 2017: The Second Global Survey on Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade Implementation will be carried out until the end of March 2017. It is jointly conducted by the United Nations Regional Commissions (UNRCs) - ECA, ECE, ECLAC, ESCAP and ESCWA.  

10 February 2017: The public review is open for the "Procedures for Reference Data Model & Associated Artefacts Publication Project". The purpose of the project is to define the procedures for the creation and publication of CCL-based Reference Data Models.  Any comments should be submitted to the Project Lead Ulrike Linde using the Public Review Comment Template until March 29th, 2017. The Public Draft text is available

2 February 2017: UN/CEFACT is pleased to launch a call for participation for the new project entitled "Header/Envelope Document Exchange Project".  The purpose of this project is to explore if the technical specifications Standard Business Document Header, SBDH, from UN/CEFACT and the Business Document Envelope, BDE, from OASIS can be merged into a single Header/Envelope Technical Specification, including guidance on how and where a header and envelope technology would be applied.  Membership is open to UN/CEFACT Experts and OASIS BDXR Members with broad knowledge in the area of standardised electronic document exchange. The project team will work during the next months until the end of 2017 mainly through conference calls and other electronic means.
For more information, contact the Project Leader: Anders Grangard  or Kenneth Bengtsson. The development of this project can be followed on the UN/CEFACT Collaboration Environment Project Page.

18 January 2017: UN/CEFACT is pleased to launch a call for participation in the new project entitled "Extension of Cross Industry Cataloguing, Quotation, Ordering, Delivering and Remittance Advice Technical Artefacts Project". The purpose of this project is to develop the technical artefacts needed to allow users to implement the business messages for cataloguing, quotation, ordering, delivering and remittance advice based on the Supply Chain Reference Data Model,  SCRDM, and Core Component Business Document Assembly (CCBDA).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 Project Page.

3 January 2017: UN/CEFACT reminds that the cut-off date for submission of new DMRs for UN/CCL D.17A and EDIFACT D.17A is the 30 January 2017