UN/CEFACT
Progress Update
by
T. A. Khan
UN/CEFACT Vice Chair
AFACT Steering Committee Mid-term Meeting
9-10 May, 2005, Hanoi, Vietnam
UNITED NATIONS CENTRE FOR TRADE FACILITATION AND ELECTRONIC BUSINESS
Under the auspices of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Topics covered
•
UN/CEFACT Plenary Bureau responsibilities
•
Trade Facilitation strategy
•
eBusiness strategy
•
UN/CEFACT Policy on Intellectual Property Rights
•
Selection of next UN/CEFACT Chairman
•
UNeDocs development
•
Financing of the UN/CEFACT Forum and Programme of Work
•
6th Un/CEFACT Forum
•
Business Requirement Specifications (BRS)
•
XML Naming and design rules
•
Resumption of project halted at the beginning of 2004
•
Third edition of codes for units of measure
•
Single Window Recommendation
•
5th UN/CEFACT Forum
UN/CEFACT
Portfolio
Strategy
E-Business
Trade
Facilitation
• Collaborative work
plan to enable
eBusiness and Trade
Facilitation.
• How to facilitate global
trade.
External
Affairs
Marketing
• Promotion of
deliverables
• Monitoring
implementation/
collecting
feedback &
requirements
• Capacitybuilding/
technical
cooperation
•
•
•
•
•
Cooperation/ coordination
Liaison
Feedback
Re-use
Non-duplication
•
•
•
•
•
Cooperation/ coordination
Liaison
Feedback
Re-use
Non-duplication
UN/CEFACT
Portfolio assignments
Strategy
E-Business
Trade
Facilitation
• Duane Nickull
• Mark Palmer
External
Affairs
Marketing
• T. A. Khan
• Duane Nickull
• Mike Doran
•
•
Mark Palmer
T. A. Khan
• Christina Rahlen
• Santiago Milá
UN/CEFACT
Trade Facilitation Strategy
The Bureau, after having reviewed existing work on trade
facilitation strategy, set up a task force to produce an
updated strategy. At the centre of this strategy are the
following elements:
• A holistic approach to the international trade transaction
process;
• The identification and elimination of Non-tariff barriers
to trade;
• Trade security – to address the shift in focus in recent
years from the threat to trade to the threat from trade;
• To promote the use of UN/CEFACT instruments to
address trade facilitation issues in the WTO Doha Work
programme;
• To develop Capacity Building programmes on Trade
Facilitation Implementation
UN/CEFACT
eBusiness Strategy
At the centre of this e-Business Strategy are four
fundamental elements:
• Cross-sectoral analysis (to promote interoperability and
supply chain synchronicity);
• Business process and information modelling (to capture
user requirements, independent of any specific
technology, through the creation of business
collaboration models); and
• New technologies as they emerge (e.g., eXtensible
Markup Language (XML), Web Services, shared and/or
distributed objects, etc.).
• international standards for enabling eBusiness systems
and interoperability
UN/CEFACT
UN/CEFACT Policy on Intellectual Property Rights
•
•
•
The 10th UN/CEFACT Plenary established an Intellectual
Property Rights (IPR) Policy Special Contact Group (IPR
SCG) at its May 2004 session to promote UN/CEFACT
Specifications without the burden of fees or restrictions.
The IPR SCG first met at September 2004 Forum, reviewed
other SDOs IPR policies and established consensus on
fundamental principles (IPR SCG N04001)
A draft IPR Policy has been circulated for comment to SCG
members, the Bureau and the Forum Management Group.
There are four key concepts in the draft IPR Policy:
Waiver
Disclosure
Exception Handling
Warranty
UN/CEFACT
Selection of next UN/CEFACT Chairman
•
A search committee, chaired by Ms Christina Rahlin, HOD
of Sweden was formed with Messrs Tahseen A Khan, HOD
of India, and Mark Palmer, U.S. delegate, together with Mika
Vepsaldinen of the secretariat, as members, requested
nominations from Member Bodies and actively searched for
candidates. The committee prepared a summary of the
nomination criteria and the responsibilities of the chair. The
secretariat distributed this summary and a call for
nominations to Member Bodies. Nominations were due to
the secretariat by 15 April 2005.
UN/CEFACT
Selection of next UN/CEFACT Chairman
•
The Search Committee reviewed the U.S. nomination of Mr.
Stuart Feder and determined that he meets the nomination
criteria and is committed to fulfilling the responsibilities of
the UN/CEFACT chair. The nomination and Mr. Feder's
CV is now forwarded to Plenary for review and a vote at the
June meeting.
Issue: Participation of the Asia Pacific region in the selection
process as it included nominations from ECE member
countries only ?
UN/CEFACT
UNeDocs development
 The UN/CEFACT at its last meeting in Kuala Lumpur
launched a major new initiative that provides electronic
alternatives to key paper documents in the international
supply chain. It has adopted the United Nations
electronic trade documents project (UNeDocs) as the
basis for a new, global standard for digital trade
documents. UNeDocs had previously been developed as
a joint project between the United Nations Economic
Commission of Europe and SITPRO, the United
Kingdom trade facilitation agency, with financial support
from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs
(SECO)
UN/CEFACT
UNeDocs development
 UN/CEFACT has set up the UNeDocs TBG2 Working
Group to develop the paper and electronic specifications
for the core documents used in international trade. The
Group will also develop customized document
specifications to support national, regional and
international
projects
for
Single
Window
implementation and paperless trade.
UN/CEFACT


Financing of the UN/CEFACT Forum and
Programme of Work
The 10th UN/CEFACT Plenary took note of a an “External
Support Services Project Proposal”
(TRADE/CEFACT/2004/26) and requested the Bureau to
revise it to take into account the decisions of the 10th Plenary
and resubmit the revised document to the Plenary for
approval in an intersessional process.
The Bureau after having studied the proposal in detail came
to the conclusion that whilst many of the issues which had
been identified by the CSG at the time, were still valid, the
estimates for the costs of the acquisition of a technical
support service provider (SSP) to supplement the services
provided to it by the UNECE secretariat were not realistic.
UN/CEFACT
Financing of the UN/CEFACT Forum and
Programme of Work
•
•
Experience since the last Plenary has shown that better
cooperation could be achieved between the Bureau, the FMG
and the Secretariat. This can be further improved by the
establishment of a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with the
Secretariat for the services it has to provide in support of the
Plenary, the Bureau the FMG and the Forum.
Additional funding is also required in order to ensure that the
UN/CEFACT Forum and Programme of Work can be
carried out and in order to ensure that the deliverables
produced are both credible and acceptable for adoption
worldwide. This need has been identified in the past as
essential to UN/CEFACT’s strategy, and has been approved
by the Plenary.
UN/CEFACT
6th Un/CEFACT Forum
The 6th Forum was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia form 14-18
March, 2005. The main activities of the forum are as given below.
ATG achievements:
•
UML to UN/EDIFACT Transformation Rules
•
Prepared the document for implementation verification
(ODP 6)
•
eTendering (TBG6) has volunteered to do
implementation
verification of the XML NDR
ICG achievements:
• United Nations Recommendation 20 – Units of Measure reviewed
and approved for submission to the UN/CEFACT Plenary June
2005 for final approval.
• UN/CEFACT Registry Specification disposition of comments. All
comments received were reviewed.
UN/CEFACT
6th Un/CEFACT Forum
•
•
•
•
•
TBG achievements:
Approved UNeDocs project
Approved creation of 2 new working groups
TBG2 : Electronic Documents
TBG18 : Agriculture
TMG achievements:
Successfully delivered UMM/CCTS Training
Agreed on BPSS next steps
Restarted the Electronic Business Architecture Working Group –
Chair: Anders W. Tell
UN/CEFACT
Business Requirement Specifications (BRS)
• At the UN/CEFACT Forum meeting, held in Kuala
Lumpur from 14 to 18 March 2005, the Steering
Committee of the International Trade and Business
Processes Permanent Group (TBG) formally approved
the first Business Requirement Specifications (BRS) to
be submitted to the next UN/CEFACT Plenary session
for approval as UN/CEFACT Business Standards,
namely:
- Cross industry invoice;
- Cross industry remittance advice;
- BoostAero e-Supply Chain;
- Material Safety Data Sheet;
- E-Tendering.
UN/CEFACT
XML NAMING AND DESIGN RULES
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION READY FOR
IMPLEMENTATION VERIFICATION
• The Applied Technologies Group (ATG) of the
United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and
Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) has
announced that the UN/CEFACT XML Naming
and Design Rules Technical Specification has
completed the public review period under the
UN/CEFACT Open Development Process (ODP)
and is now ready for Implementation Verification.
It has been re-released as Version 1.1.and may be
downloaded from the ATG web site at
http://webster.disa.org/cefact-groups/atg.
UN/CEFACT
TMG Steering Committee announced the resumption
of project halted at the beginning of 2004.
•
TMG has invited all to participate in one or more of the
following TMG Projects:
CC Working Group
• UN/CEFACT CCTS V2.1 (Part 8 of ebXML Framework)
BP Working Group
• UN/CEFACT Technologies and Methodologies Overview
Paper
• N091 – UMM Meta Model
• N092 – UMM Reference Guide
• N093 – UMM User Guide
• N094 – BCSS (Business Collaboration Schema Specification)
• Continue working on ebXML BPSS (Business Process
Schema Specification)
UN/CEFACT
Third edition of codes for units of measure used in
international trade, recommendation no. 20, under
approval
The Information Content Management Group (ICG) of the
UN/CEFACT announced the release of the third edition of the
codes for units of measure used in international trade,
Recommendation No. 20, for public review on 1st Oct. 2004. It
provides a single list of code elements to represent units of
measure for length, mass (weight), volume and other quantities,
including units of count. This edition of Recommendation 20
includes a number of significant enhancements:
• New and updated units of measure
• Allowance for, and inclusion of, a description of the individual units
• Introduction of status indicator to highlight maintenance activities
• Alignment of presentation format of the three annexes
• Annex I (units of measure by quantity) designated as a normative
annex that contains only units that are classified as SI or SI
equivalent
UN/CEFACT
•
•
•
•
•
•
Annex II (units of measure by name) and annex III (units of
measure by common code) designated as informative annexes that
contain all units
Removal of historical references (retained in UN database)
Addressed the handling of units with a use identification of “Z”
(codes included for information purposes with questionable usage)
Marked as deleted, units that are also contained in
Recommendation 21(Codes for types of cargo, packages and
packaging materials) and introduction of mechanism to allow their
use as units of measure
Notion of “units of count” introduced for level 3 (informative)
codes
A full description of the enhancements and the associated annexes
are available for download (in both MS Word and PDF formats)
from the ICG Web Site at: www.disa.org/cefactgroups/icg/downloads
UN/CEFACT
Single Window Recommendation formally approved
• This Recommendation was developed by the
International Trade Procedures Working Group
(ITPWG – TBG15) of the UN/CEFACT International
Trade and Business Processes Group (TBG). It was
formally approved by the UN/CEFACT heads of
delegation in September 2004, after an extensive review
process by various industry, governmental and
international organizations. A draft of the
Recommendation (TRADE/CEFACT/2004/MISC.7)
had previously been submitted to the 10th
UN/CEFACT Plenary session in May 2004.
UN/CEFACT
5th UN/CEFACT Forum (13-17 Sep. 2004, USA)
• UN/CEFACT, the concluded a highly effective meeting
in Washington DC. During the week, a number of
organizational changes were implemented that will make
UN/CEFACT more effective in producing solutions for
the business world.
• The Forum elected new officers and decided to
strengthen its relationships with sponsors. A UN Trust
Fund will be established to support and accelerate the
work, as well as to build an infrastructure for the
promotion and dissemination of the standards and
technical specifications.
• Great progress was made in laying out an Intellectual
Property Rights policy (IPR) and the first Aggregate
Core Components Library was released.
UN/CEFACT
5th UN/CEFACT Forum (13-17 Sep. 2004, USA)
• UN/CEFACT has now delivered the first set of Core
Components which are the basic semantic elements
required for electronic transactions. In the coming years
this library will be extended with the business know-how
of the many industry experts involved in the Forum.
• UN/CEFACT has decided to develop a white paper for
both Trade Facilitation and an Electronic Business to
translate the high level mandate and vision into a
concrete strategy and tactical projects. The Forum will
strengthen relationships with the existing standard
setting organizations and develop new cooperation.
UN/CEFACT
5th UN/CEFACT Forum (13-17 Sep. 2004, USA)
• A Forum Management group, under the new leadership
of Dick Raman, CEO and President of TIE Holding
N.V., will actively seek out the involvement of a wider
variety of industries and economic experts.
• During the meeting, great progress was made in laying
out the principles for an IPR policy that ensures the
participation of the software vendors for the
implementation of the technical specifications and
standards. The Forum endorsed business specifications
for electronic tendering in engineering and construction
and electronic Certificate of Origin for agricultural
products, as well as new developments for the
codification of business processes, such as supply-chain
processes for the Aerospace and Defence industry.5th
UN/CEFACT
UN/CEFACT
SIMPLE, TRANSPARENT AND EFFECTIVE PROCESSES
FOR GLOBAL BUSINESS.
www.uncefact.org
UN/CEFACT