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UN/CEFACT


United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business
 
Terms of Reference of the Working Party on Facilitation of International Trade Procedures (WP.4)
 
1. The Working Party shall facilitate international trade and transport by promoting rationalization of trade procedures and the effective use for this purpose of electronic or other automatic data processing and transmission. In the pursuit of this general task, the Working Party shall in particular:
 
  1.1 ensure the proper co-ordination in the field of facilitation of international trade and transport;
 
  1.2 keep under review the procedures required in international trade and transport with a view to their reduction, simplification and international harmonization;
 
  1.3 collect and distribute information on trade formalities, procedures, documentation and related matters;
 
  1.4 promote the development of a common approach to facilitation problems and a common methodology for their solution;
 
  1.5 pursue the simplification and standardization of trade documentation on the basis of the ECE layout key including documents designed for use in computer and other automatic systems;
 
  1.6 promote the standardization of data contained in international trade documents, the development of a standard trade terminology and uniform codes of trade information for use in modern methods of data transmission and processing;
 
  1.7 promote, in consultation with the International Telecommunication Union, the introduction in international trade of adequate systems and installations for electronic data transmission.
 
2. The Working Party shall co-operate with relevant organizations so as to ensure the practical work on specific tasks to be undertaken in the appropriate forum and to avoid duplication of effort. The Working Party shall encourage any interested United Nations' member, which is not a member of the Commission, to participate in its work in a consultative capacity.
 
3. The Working Party shall report on its activities and progress in the facilitation of trade procedures to the Committee on the Development of Trade. It shall also transmit its report to the Inland Transport Committee on problems of joint concern.
 
4. The Working Party shall consider all proposals for specific tasks with due regard to the need to establish appropriate priorities within available resources. If necessary it may create subsidiary bodies for specific purposes.
 
5. The Working Party shall be empowered to make recommendations directly to ECE Governments.

Last update: 30 September 1999

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