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UN/CEFACT - Highlights (2020)

18 December 2020: UNECE Secretariat has released the 2020-2 UN/LOCODE directory.

16 December 2020: UN/CEFACT is pleased to launch a call for participation for the “Transport Modal Views of MMT” project. This project aims to provide modal-specific data exchange eBusiness standards. If you would like more information, please contact the project lead: Michael Dill

1 December 2020: The UN/CEFACT secretariat is pleased to announce that the UN/EDIFACT directories version D.20B has been validated by the Validation Focal Point and officially published. It is now available for browsing in the UN/EDIFACT section of the UN/CEFACT website. and can be downloaded from the UN/EDIFACT Directories.

1 December 2020:  UN/CEFACT is pleased to launch a call for participation for the “Open Finance for Trade Facilitation”. This project will investigate how the application of innovative API-based financial services could support Trade Facilitation. If you would like more information, please contact the project lead: Fabio Sorrentino.

6 November 2020: The Core Component Library (CCL) D20B and XML Schema D20B have been validated by the Validation Focal Point and published in the UN/CEFACT website.

4 November 2020: UN/CEFACT is happy to announce a 60-day public reviews until 3 January 2021 of the BRS High Level Process and Data Model and BRS Transparency and Traceability Process and CCBDA Data Model, developed under the project “Enhancing Transparency and Traceability for Sustainable Value Chains in Garment and Footwear”. Please use the Public Comment Log provided to facilitate the preparation of a Disposition Log by the Project Team.

2 November 2020: UN/CEFACT is happy to announce a 60-day public review until 2 January 2021 concerning the Pandemic Crisis Trade-Related Response Project. Please use the Public Comment Log provided to facilitate the preparation of a Disposition Log by the Project Team.

20 October 2020: UN/CEFACT is happy to announce a 60-day public review until 20 December 2020 of the Policy Recommendation, developed under the project “Enhancing Transparency and Traceability for Sustainable Value Chains in Garment and Footwear”. Please use the Public Comment Log provided to facilitate the preparation of a Disposition Log by the Project Team.

24 September 2020: UN/CEFACT is pleased to launch a call for participation for the “Automotive project”. This project will extend the SCRDM Scheduling and Delivery Business Requirements and Data Models to accommodate the business requirements of the global automotive industry. If you would like more information, please contact the project lead: Rob Exell

7 September 2020: UN/CEFACT would like to remind users that the cut-off date for submissions of the new DMRs for UN/LOCODE release 2020-2 is 30 September 2020.

2 September 2020: UN/CEFACT is pleased to launch a call for participation for the project eNegotiation. The negotiation process is entering a digital transformation and starting to use artificial intelligence and robot process automation. This will require clear semantic standards throughout the process which will be proposed by this project. If you would like more information, please contact the project lead: Hisanao Sugamata.

11 August 2020: UN/CEFACT is happy to announce a 60-day public review until 11 October 2020 concerning the Electronic Application Error and Acknowledgment Project. Please use the Public Comment Log provided to facilitate the preparation of a Disposition Log by the Project Team.

30 July 2020: UN/CEFACT would like to remind users that the cut-off date for submissions of the new DMRs for UN/CCL, D.20B and UN/EDIFACT, D.20B is 11 September 2020.

23 July 2020: This is to announce a 60-day public review until 23 September 2020 concerning the International Transport and Forwarding messages project. This includes the following five Business Requirement Specifications: Booking, Shipping Instruction, Waybill, Tracking and the common requirements. Please use the Public Comment Template provided to facilitate the preparation of a Comment Log by the Project Team.

21 July 2020: UN/CEFACT is happy to announce a 60-day public review until 21 September 2020 concerning the BRS for Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) project. Please use the Public Comment Template provided to facilitate the preparation of a Comment Log by the Project Team.

21 July 2020: UN/CEFACT is happy to announce a 60-day public review until 21 September 2020 concerning the Business Requirement Specification Cross Industry Export Packing List Process project. Please use the Public Comment Template provided to facilitate the preparation of a Comment Log by the Project Team.

21 July 2020: UN/CEFACT is happy to announce a 60-day public review until 21 September 2020 concerning the Recommendation on Ship Agent and Ship Broker Minimum Standards project. Please use the Public Comment Template provided to facilitate the preparation of a Comment Log by the Project Team.

20 July 2020: UN/CEFACT is happy to announce a 60-day public review until 20 September 2020 concerning the Trade Information Portals Project. Please use the Public Comment Template provided to facilitate the preparation of a Comment Log by the Project Team.

1 July 2020: UNECE Secretariat has released the 2020-1 UN/LOCODE directory

30 June 2020: UN/CEFACT is happy to announce a 60-day public review until 30 August 2020 concerning the second part of the Cross Border Facilitation Measures For Disaster Relief project. Please use the Public Comment Log provided to facilitate the preparation of a Disposition Log by the Project Team.

19 June 2020: UN/CEFACT is pleased to launch a call for participation for the project "Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF)".  In 2012-2013, UN/CEFACT developed the RASFF and this standard has been implemented in many economies around the world. This project shall update and finalize the business requirements specification (BRS) document for this standard. If you would like more information, please contact the project lead: Michael Dill.

19 June 2020: UN/CEFACT is pleased to launch a call for participation for the project "International Forwarding and Transport".  UN/CEFACT has already developed a comprehensive Multi-Modal Transport Reference Data Model (MMT-RDM)  to cover all the needs of international forwarding and transport. Many today are still using document-centric messages for things like booking, shipping instructions, status reports, waybills… This project shall develop the individual standards for these messages based on the MMT-RDM, allowing for either a document-focused exchange of the information or a process-driven exchange of the information. If you would like more information, please contact the project lead: Michael Dill.

19 June 2020: UN/CEFACT is pleased to launch a call for participation for the project "Dangerous Goods ".  The UN/EDIFACT Dangerous Goods Notification message (IFTDGN) has been widely implemented over the past 20+ years. However, there have been some changes in legislations and business requirements. This project shall update the IFTDGN message and produce an XML equivalent based on the UN/CEFACT MMT-RDM. If you would like more information, please contact the project lead: Nico de Cauwer.

19 June 2020: UN/CEFACT is pleased to launch a call for participation for the project "Packing List". The Packing List is a data exchange to support sellers providing transport services providers with shipment delivery information. This project shall develop the required eBusiness standards and electronic messages for this exchange, based on the Supply Chain Reference Data Model. If you would like more information, please contact the project lead: Michael Dill.

17 June 2020: UN/CEFACT is pleased to launch a call for participation for the project "Pandemic Crisis Recovery".  With the COVID-19 crisis and the disruptions to trade around the world, it is clear that harmonized guidance on how to address such situations is necessary. This work will Build upon the work within the UN/CEFACT Disaster Recovery project which is currently out for Public Review. If you would like more information, please contact the project lead: Lance Thompson.

16 June 2020: The UN/CEFACT secretariat is pleased to announce that the UN/EDIFACT directories version D.20A has been validated by the Validation Focal Point and officially published. It is now available for browsing in the UN/EDIFACT section of the UN/CEFACT website and can be downloaded from the UN/EDIFACT Directories.

12 June 2020: This is to announce a 60-day public review until 12 August 2020, concerning the Message Construction Guidelines for CCBDA project. Please use the Public Comment Log provided to facilitate the preparation of a Disposition Log by the Project Team.

9 June 2020: This is to announce a 60-day public review until 9 August  2020, concerning the Cross Border Facilitation Measures For Disaster Relief project. Please use the Public Comment Log provided to facilitate the preparation of a Disposition Log by the Project Team.

9 June 2020: The UN/CEFACT Bureau is pleased to announce the call for candidatures for domain coordinators within UN/CEFACT. The role and responsibilities of domains and domain coordinators is available on the website here.  The structure of domains and the Programme Development Areas are posted on the website here.  Please refer to the announcement and candidature form.  Interested candidatures are welcome until 10 July 2020, filled candidature form should be sent to the Secretary of UN/CEFACT.

8 June 2020: The UNECE secretariat and the UN/CEFACT Chair, Ms. Sue Probert are very pleased to present its newly appointed UN/CEFACT Bureau Vice Chairs. Three returning Vice Chairs were appointed: Ms. Estelle Igwe (Nigeria, International Trade Procedures PDA), Mr. Ian Watt (Australia, International Supply Chain – BUY PDA) and Mr. Tahseen Khan (India, Regulatory and eGovernment PDA) and five new Vice Chairs join their ranks: Mr. Aleksei Bondarenko (the Russian Federation, International Trade Procedures PDA), Ms. Hanane Becha (France, International Supply Chain – SHIP PDA), Ms. Liliana Fratini Passi (Italy, International Supply Chain – PAY PDA), Mr. Benno Slot (the Netherlands, Regulatory and eGovernment PDA) and Mr. Marek Laskowski (Canada, Methodology and Technology PDA). The secretariat cordially congratulates all elected Bureau members and is looking forward to a fruitful collaboration on trade facilitation and electronic business over the next three years.

13 May 2020: UN/CEFACT is pleased to launch a call for participation for the project "Electronic Application Error and Acknowledgment". UN/CEFACT has developed a number of XML standard messages for cross-industry and sectoral domains. In order to support interoperability even more a generic Application Error and Acknowledgement message is needed. The function of this message is to inform a message issuer that his message has been received by the addressee’s application and to report errors/status of the message during its processing. If you would like more information, please contact the project lead: Hisanao Sugamata and/or Gerhard Heemskerk.

22 April 2020: The Core Component Library (CCL) D20A and XML Schema D20A have been validated by the Validation Focal Point and published. They are now available on the UN/CEFACT website.

16 March 2020: UN/CEFACT is pleased to launch a call for participation for the project “Minimum Standards for Ship Agents”. This guidance was originally developed in the 1980s under UNCTAD (UNCTAD/ST/SHIP/13) and is being proposed for update as a UN/CEFACT recommendation in order to reflect changes in operational practices. If you would like more information, please contact the project leader, Jonathan Williams.

9 March 2020: Given current concerns with the Coronavirus COVID-19, the UN/CEFACT Bureau has come to the decision to postpone the 35th Forum. The health and welfare of all participants is our principle concern. Some activities will be held virtually in April; more information will be circulated in the coming weeks.

9 March 2020: UN/CEFACT is pleased to launch a call for participation for the project "Cross Industry Supply Chain Track and Trace". This project will develop the business cases and electronic messages necessary for the tracing (monitoring the history) and tracking (monitoring the present and future movements) of an asset (such as a lot, pallet or container). If you would like more information, please contact the project lead: Hanane Becha.

9 March 2020: This is to announce a 30-day public review until 8 April 2020 concerning the Exchange Header Envelope (XHE) project. Please use the Public Comment Log provided to facilitate the preparation of a Disposition Log by the Project Team.

26 February 2020: UN/CEFACT is pleased to launch a call for participation for the project "Blockchain Services Infrastructure". This project will explore the necessary supporting tools for implementing Blockchain services and outline the technology infrastructures which can support high speed and scalable fourth generation blockchain technology. It will produce a White Paper, building upon the work already developed under the UN/CEFACT Blockchain White Papers. If you would like more information, please contact the project lead: Nena Dokuzov.

19 February 2020: UN/CEFACT would like to remind users that the cut-off date for submissions of new DMRs for UN/CCL D.20A and UN/EDIFACT D.20A is the 2 March 2020.

5 February 2020: Elections of UN/CEFACT Vice Chairs will take place on Monday, 4 May 2020, in Geneva during the 26th UN/CEFACT Plenary. The roles and responsibilities of UN/CEFACT Vice Chairs are described in the UN/CEFCT Mandate and Terms of Reference, paragraphs 35 to 51. The full procedure, associated forms and references are available on the “Election Vice Chair” tab of the Plenary website. The candidacies should be received directly from country missions by 15 March 2020.