United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business
UN/CEFACT is the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business. It was established as an intergovernmental body of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in 1996 and evolved from UNECE's long tradition of work in trade facilitation which began in 1957.
UN/CEFACT's goal is "Simple, Transparent and Effective Processes for Global Commerce." It aims to help business, trade and administrative organizations from developed, developing and transition economies to exchange products and services effectively. To this end, it focuses on simplifying national and international transactions by harmonizing processes, procedures and information flows related to these transactions, rendering these more efficient and streamlined, with the ultimate goal of contributing to the growth of global commerce.
Trade facilitation and electronic business
UN/CEFACT focusses on two main areas of activity to make international trade processes more efficient and streamlined, namely: trade facilitation and electronic business.
Trade facilitation involves the simplification of trade procedures (or the elimination of unnecessary procedures). This includes work to standardize and harmonize the core information used in trade documents, to ease the flow of information between parties by relying on appropriate information and communication technology, and to promote simplified payment systems to foster transparency, accountability and cost-effectiveness.
Electronic business, in the UN/CEFACT context, focuses on harmonizing, standardizing and automating the exchange of information that controls the flow of goods along the international supply chain. UN/CEFACT's work on electronic business is driven by the understanding that goods cannot move faster than the processes and information that accompany them.
UN/CEFACT takes a total trade transaction approach to trade facilitation and associated electronic business, covering all the processes from initial placement of orders through to final payments. This is best illustrated through the UN/CEFACT Buy-Ship-Pay model of the international supply chain, which forms the basis of its work.
Buy Ship Pay model of the international supply chain
Deliverables
UN/CEFACT has produced over 30 trade facilitation recommendations and a range of electronic business standards (collectively referred to as “instruments”) which are used throughout the world by both governments and the private sector. They reflect best practices in trade procedures and data and documentary requirements. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has adopted many of them as international standards.
UN/CEFACT Recommendations and Standards are implemented throughout the world. Some of the more well known instruments are:
Recommendation 1: United Nations Layout Key (UNLK) for Trade Documents. This provides an international basis for the standardized layout of documents used in international trade. The Layout Key facilitates the exchange of information between the various parties involved in a commercial transaction and is used as the basis for many key trade documents such as the European Union's Single Administrative Document (SAD); FIATA's Freight Forwarding Instruction; UNECE's Dangerous Goods Declaration; and the World Customs Organization (WCO) Goods Declaration for Export. Use of the UN Layout Key is specifically recommended in the WCO's Revised Kyoto Convention. It is important to note that the Layout Key is so widely used in international trade that many expect normal trade documents to conform to the Recommendation.
Recommendation 16: UN/LOCODE Code for Trade and Transport Locations provides an alphabetic code for seaports, airports, inland freight terminals and other customs clearance sites. Recommended by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), it is used by most major shipping companies and also by the universal Postal Union (UPU). UN/LOCODE's website is regularly visited, accounting for 6% of all “hits” to the UNECE website. The first issue of UN/LOCODE in 1981 provided codes to represent the names of some 8000 locations in the world. Today, UN/LOCODE, which is updated twice annually, contains almost 100 000 entries with strong demand for further updates and extension. Every recognised national and international airport or maritime port will have a UN/LOCODE coding.
Recommendation 25 and the UN/EDIFACT Standard represent a set of internationally agreed standards, directories, and guidelines for the electronic interchange of structured data, between independent computerized information systems. UN/EDIFACT is the international standard for Electronic data interchange and is used throughout the commercial and administrative world. UN/EDIFACT accounts for over 90% of all electronic data interchange (EDI) messages exchanged globally. UN/EDIFACT messages are used by almost all national customs administrations, all major seaports and a large range of companies (including over 100 000 in the retail sector), and throughout international supply chains. For example, more than 7 million EDIFACT messages are exchanged each year in the French agricultural supply chain.
Recommendation 33 on Single Windows proposes that governments establish a Single Window facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardized information and documents with a single entry point to fulfil all import, export and transit-related regulatory requirements. A suite of complementary Single Window Recommendations has also been developed, namely Recommendation 34 on Data Simplification and Standardization and 35 on Establishing a Legal Framework for Single Windows.
A family of Supply Chain “Cross-Industry” messages are exchanged globally between trading partners covering the majority of business-to-business (B2B) electronic exchanges from order to payment. One of the key documents within this family is the Cross Industry Invoice (CII) which functions primarily as a request for payment, used as a key document for Value Added Tax (VAT) declaration and reclamation, for statistics declarations and to support export and import declarations in international trade.
The eDAPLOS message describes the data crop sheet exchanged between farmers and their partners. This message has allowed users to harmonize the definitions of technical data, develop consensual data dictionaries which can be used as a basis for all the steps of traceability and create a standardized Crop Data Sheet message. DAPLOS, which is based on the UN/CEFACT Core Component Library, has been adopted by 25 000 farmers and regional agriculture chambers in France and Belgium.
CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) has developed a version of their declaration using the Core Component Library of UN/CEFACT and has generated an XML message according to the specifications of UN/CEFACT. CITES is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. The CITES declarations are used in customs clearance procedures in all countries around the globe.
Benefits
Governments, traders and consumers all benefit from having simpler and more cost-effective trade procedures. UN/CEFACT's work is particularly relevant for developing countries, where the elimination of trade-related inefficiencies is many times more beneficial than the reduction or removal of tariff barriers to trade. In addition, UN/CEFACT's work is of particular benefit to landlocked countries and countries distant from major markets. These countries experience challenges and constraints resulting from complex and inefficient procedures, including the creation of many additional costs in bringing goods to market. The gains from this work are considerable for small and medium-sized enterprises, for which the costs of compliance with various trade-related procedures are proportionally higher. This is particularly true in the case of low-value shipments, where the cost of administrative procedures represents a large proportion of total cost.
Structure
In view of the global character of its work on trade facilitation and electronic business standards, UN/CEFACT is open to representatives of all UN member states and all organisations recognized by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The participation of developing countries and countries in transition in standards development processes is strongly encouraged.
The highest authority regarding all aspects of UN/CEFACT's work is the intergovernmental Plenary which meets once a year in Geneva. Delegations to the Plenary include UN member states, intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) recognized by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC). Only UN member states have the right to vote at Plenary meetings – all other members are observers.
The Plenary elects the UN/CEFACT Bureau which consists of a chair and at least four vice-chairs. The Bureau acts in the name of the Plenary between sessions and meets physically an average of four times per year and more frequently through virtual conference calls.
Each UN member state may nominate a permanent Head of Delegation (HOD) to UN/CEFACT. HODs participate in the Plenary, are consulted by the bureau on key strategic issues, and are responsible for nominating experts to participate in UN/CEFACT activities.
The technical work to develop UN/CEFACT standards and recommendations is done by over 200 volunteer experts from around the world, nominated by HODs. The experts come from both the public and the private sectors, forming a public-private partnership in support of trade facilitation and electronic business. They participate as independent volunteer experts in their own right, without representing any special interests of their countries or institutions. The experts are representatives from:
Governments
Private companies
Intergovernmental organizations
Industry associations (representing large collective groups of private-sector companies)
Academia
UN/CEFACT experts meet physically in UN/CEFACT Forums, which are held twice a year (one in Geneva and one hosted by a UN member state) in order to coordinate their work. The vast majority of the work is done virtually between forums.
UNECE provides secretarial support to UN/CEFACT in order that the Centre may implement its programme of work. Annually, the UN/CEFACT Bureau (acting on behalf of the Plenary) and the UNECE Secretariat plan for the implementation of UN/CEFACT's programme of work, taking into account the resources available from both the United Nations and externally. The secretariat takes responsibility for supporting the work of UN/CEFACT including supporting the maintenance of Recommendations and standards; and handles the administrative functions related to UN/CEFACT, including UN oversight, organizing meetings and preparing official documents and papers. The technical work of standards development is undertaken by the UN/CEFACT experts.
Some important users of UN/CEFACT norms, standards and recommendations
Governments of Australia, Canada, France and New Zealand: for agricultural trade certificates
Government of Canada: for its air cargo security initiative
Government of France: for eArchiving, the transfer of digital records and public procurement (all under current development)
Government of India: for its ports management system
Government of the Republic of Korea: for public procurement services
Government of the United States of America: for defence contract compliance reporting and for material safety data sheets (the latter being used in transport of dangerous goods)
Governments of Central Asian and South East European (SEE) countries: for Single Window capacity-building and implementation
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation and Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Government of India: for development of electronic trade documents
Southeast European countries: for work on customs corridors
World Customs Organization and numerous national Customs administrations, S.W.I.F.T and ISO 20022 (Finance): for data formats and definitions
World Trade Organization negotiators on trade facilitation: as examples of relevant standards and recommendations particularly for aligned documents and Single Windows
Global Standards 1 (GS1): for all trade messages (with approximately 110,000 companies having implemented these)
International insurance industry: for coverage and claims
European gas and electricity industries: for information exchange
Japanese construction industry: for e-tendering
Japanese tourism industry: for rental of small-scale lodging houses
European transport companies: for the exchange of short sea-transport information
Numerous Governments in both developed and developing countries: for aligned documents
Most shipping companies, container operators, terminal operators and others in the maritime shipping industry: for almost all maritime shipping messages through EDIFACT messages.
The UN/CEFACT electronic data forms
The following 94 forms are until May 2014 (version D13B), developed by UN/CEFACT. In September 2017, this was increased to 123 forms (XML Schemas)[1]
AAA Accounting Entry Message
AAA Accounting Journal List Message
AAA Accounting Message
AAA Bundle Collection Message
AAA Chart Of Accounts Message
AAA Ledger Message
AAA Reporting Message
AAA Trial Balance Message
Acknowledgement
Agronomical Observation Report
Animal Inspection Message
Contract Summary Data
Cost Data
Cost Schedule
Crop Data Sheet Message
Cross Border Livestock
Cross Industry Catalogue
Cross Industry Demand Forecast Response
Cross Industry Demand Forecast
Cross Industry Despatch Advice
Cross Industry Inventory Forecast
Cross Industry Invoice
Cross Industry Order Change
Cross Industry Order Response
Cross Industry Order
Cross Industry Quotation Proposal Response
Cross Industry Quotation Proposal
Cross Industry Remittance Advice
Cross Industry Request For Quotation Response
Cross Industry Request For Quotation
Cross Industry Supply Instruction
Cross Industry Supply Notification
Data Specification Profile
Data Specification Query
Data Specification Request
Data Specification
Electronic Animal Passport Message
Electronic Data Exchange Proxy
Examination Result Notification
FLUX ACDR Message
FLUX Response Message
FLUX Vessel Position Message
Funding Data
Invitation To Tender
Laboratory Observation Report
Letter Of Invitation To Tender
Lodging House Information Request
Lodging House Information Response
Lodging House Reservation Request
Lodging House Reservation Response
Lodging House Travel Product Information
Material Safety Data Sheet
MSI Request
MSI
Network Schedule
Prequalification Application
Project Artefact Profile
Project Artefact Query
Project Artefact Request
Project Artefact
Qualification Application
Qualification Result Notice
RASFF Notification Message
Reception Of Prequalification Application
Reception Of Qualification Application
Reception Of Registration Application
Reception Of Request For Tender Information
Reception Of Response Of Tender Guarantee
Reception Of Tender Guarantee
Reception Of Tender
Registration Application
Reporting Calendar Data
Report Structure
Request For Tender Information
Resourcing Data
Response Of Tender Guarantee
Schedule Calendar Data
SPSAcknowledgement
SPSCertificate
Tender Guarantee
Tender Information
Tender Result Notice
Tender
Thresholds
TMW Cancellation Message
TMW Certificate Of Waste Receipt Message
TMW Certificate Of Waste Recovery Disposal Message
TMW Confirmation Of Message Receipt Message
TMW Movement Announcement Message
TMW Notification Acknowledgement Message
TMW Notification Decision Message
TMW Notification Submission Message
TMW Request For Further Notification Information Message
Electronic data interchange (EDI) is the concept of businesses electronically communicating information that was traditionally communicated on paper, such as purchase orders, advance ship notices, and invoices. Technical standards for EDI exist to facilitate parties transacting such instruments without having to make special arrangements.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe is one of the five regional commissions under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It was established in order to promote economic cooperation and integration among its member states.
The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards is a nonprofit consortium that works on the development, convergence, and adoption of projects - both open standards and open source - for cybersecurity, blockchain, Internet of things (IoT), emergency management, cloud computing, legal data exchange, energy, content technologies, and other areas.
UN/LOCODE, the United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations, is a geographic coding scheme developed and maintained by United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). UN/LOCODE assigns codes to locations used in trade and transport with functions such as seaports, rail and road terminals, airports, Postal Exchange Office and border crossing points. The first issue in 1981 contained codes for 8,000 locations. The version from 2011 contained codes for about 82,000 locations.
An invoice, bill or tab is a commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer relating to a sale transaction and indicating the products, quantities, and agreed-upon prices for products or services the seller had provided the buyer.
United Nations/Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport (UN/EDIFACT) is an international standard for electronic data interchange (EDI) developed for the United Nations and approved and published by UNECE, the UN Economic Commission for Europe.
Universal Business Language (UBL) is an open library of standard electronic XML business documents for procurement and transportation such as purchase orders, invoices, transport logistics and waybills. UBL was developed by an OASIS Technical Committee with participation from a variety of industry data standards organizations. UBL is designed to plug directly into existing business, legal, auditing, and records management practices. It is designed to eliminate the re-keying of data in existing fax- and paper-based business correspondence and provide an entry point into electronic commerce for small and medium-sized businesses.
When used in foreign trade, a commercial invoice is a customs document. It is used as a customs declaration provided by the person or corporation that is exporting an item across international borders. Although there is no standard format, the document must include a few specific pieces of information such as the parties involved in the shipping transaction, the goods being transported, the country of manufacture, and the Harmonized System codes for those goods. A commercial invoice must often include a statement certifying that the invoice is true, and a signature.
AS2 is a specification on how to transport structured business-to-business data securely and reliably over the Internet. Security is achieved by using digital certificates and encryption.
SITPRO Limited was a UK non-departmental public body that was constituted as a limited company and was focused on the removal of barriers to international trade through the simplification and harmonisation of trade procedures. Based in London, SITPRO was dedicated to encouraging and helping business trade more effectively and to simplifying the international trading process. It was closed as part of government cut-backs in September 2010.
Trade facilitation looks at how procedures and controls governing the movement of goods across national borders can be improved to reduce associated cost burdens and maximise efficiency while safeguarding legitimate regulatory objectives. Business costs may be a direct function of collecting information and submitting declarations or an indirect consequence of border checks in the form of delays and associated time penalties, forgone business opportunities and reduced competitiveness.
The single-window system or single-window concept is a trade facilitation concept which allows an international (cross-border) trader to submit information to a single agency, rather than having to deal with multiple agencies in multiple locations to obtain the necessary papers, permits, and clearances to complete their import or export processes. There is an obvious time saving benefit to the single window system. The concept is recognised by organisations such as the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and its Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT), World Customs Organization (WCO), the United Nations Network of Experts for Paperless Trade and Transport in Asia and the Pacific (UNNExT), and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
In 1979, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) chartered the Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12 to develop uniform standards for interindustry electronic exchange of business transactions-electronic data interchange (EDI)
UN/CEFACT TBG5 is the entity responsible for financial services under the United Nations Centre for Trade facilitation and Electronic Business, (UN/CEFACT) under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).
SDMX, which stands for Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange, is an international initiative that aims at standardising and modernising ("industrialising") the mechanisms and processes for the exchange of statistical data and metadata among international organisations and their member countries.
Tradacoms is an early standard for EDI primarily used in the UK retail sector. It was introduced in 1982 as an implementation of the UN/GTDI syntax, one of the precursors of EDIFACT, and was maintained and extended by the UK Article Numbering Association.
UNeDocs, or United Nations electronic Trade Documents, was a planned document standard for global electronic trade within UN/CEFACT. The project was suspended and placed under review in 2009 by the UN/CEFACT Bureau.
Electronic Business using eXtensible Markup Language, commonly known as e-business XML, or ebXML as it is typically referred to, is a family of XML based standards sponsored by OASIS and UN/CEFACT whose mission is to provide an open, XML-based infrastructure that enables the global use of electronic business information in an interoperable, secure, and consistent manner by all trading partners.
GS1 EDI is a set of global electronic messaging standards for business documents used in Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). The standards are developed and maintained by GS1. GS1 EDI is part of the overall GS1 system, fully integrated with other GS1 standards, increasing the speed and accuracy of the supply chain. Examples of GS1 EDI standards include messages such as: Order, Despatch Advice, Invoice, Transport Instruction, etc. The development and maintenance of all GS1 standards is based on a rigorous process called the Global Standard Management Process (GSMP). GS1 develops its global supply chain standards in partnership with the industries using them. Any organization can submit a request to modify the standard. Maintenance releases of GS1 EDI standards are typically published every two years, while code lists can be updated up to 4 times a year.
UNIDOC is an XML-based standard to support electronic data interchange (EDI) in business transactions between trading companies. Unlike other XML-based EDI formats, such as UBL, ebXML, RosettaNet or openTRANS, UNIDOC relies one a single structure. The first idea of such a universal format was published in 2014, its first specification in 2016 in the journal of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Swabia . The current specification can be found in the UNIDOC XML Schema Definition.
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