UNITED NATIONS Distr. GENERAL TRADE/CEFACT/1997/3 11 June 1997 Original : ENGLISH ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE COMMITTEE FOR TRADE, INDUSTRY AND ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT Centre for the Facilitation of Procedures and Practices for Administration, Commerce and Transport (CEFACT) (Second session, 15-16 September 1997, Item 2 of the provisional agenda) Report of the CEFACT Steering Group (CSG) Meeting Geneva, 21 March 1997 This document has been submitted by the CEFACT Steering Group (CSG) for information and translation as required under the CEFACT procedures outlined in document TRADE/R.650. It is for information only. Items to be decided upon by the CEFACT Plenary will be presented in a separate report for the Chair of the CSG. GE.97- REPORT CEFACT STEERING GROUP (CSG) MEETING 1997, 21 March GENEVA Members Present: Ray Walker, Chairman Ray Battersby Claude Chiaramonti Ernst Deeg Alex de Lijster Dumitrache Dima David Dobbing Allan Kent David Marsh Klaus Naujok Emile Peeters Rob Van Kuik Christina Wallen-Rahlen Christoph Wolf Secretariat Present: Carol Cosgrove-Sacks, Director Hans Hansell, Chief of Section Virginia Cram-Martos Jean Kubler Ernst Smirnov Ex-Officio Members Present: Bernadette Curry Santiago Mila Harvey Bates Kenji Itoh Observers Present: Renaud Sorieul (Legal Rapporteur) Anne Troye (Legal Rapporteur) Stephan Luster (PAEB Vice- Rapporteur for the PAEB Rapporteur: T. Wheel) Introductory Note 1. To encourage the greatest possible openness in the process and input into its decisions and recommendations, the CSG encourages a wide circulation of its reports. Chairman's Introductory Remarks 2. The Chair made some important introductory remarks to place in context the work and responsibilities of the CSG. A summary of these remarks follows. "Managing the CEFACT work programme is of critical importance to the success of CEFACT. Having been charged with this essential task, CSG members must undertake: þ to represent CEFACT and not their respective country or organization; þ to form one team with collective decision making and respect for confidentiality; þ to listen carefully to the CEFACT Plenary as well as to users and their requirements. It is up to the CSG members, during 1997, to work with the Plenary to get CEFACT launched, to provide it with momentum, and to seize this unique opportunity to create a dynamic and credible organization. In order to preserve the mandate and accountability of the CSG it shall be important to closely link, on a continuing basis, the CSG's procedures and actions to the CSG's mandates, responsibilities and procedures as outlined in TRADE/R.650 -- it being the document under which CEFACT and the CSG were established. In this context, it is important to also keep in mind paragraph 9 of TRADE/R.650 which states that, once a group has been empowered, 'the role of the Plenary and the Steering Group shall be to support the progression of the work rather than focusing on the detailed aspects of control'." CSG Procedures and Methods of Work 3. Two groups were established to work on the interim CSG procedures, using as their basis, paragraphs 28 to 42 in TRADE/R.650: Procedure drafting group: C. Wallen-Rahlen (chair), K-D Naujok, C. Wolf Quality assessment group: D. Dobbing and the two Legal Rapporteurs (A. Troye and R. Sorieul) The Chair requested that a first draft of the future procedures be available for the next meeting. The CSG stressed the need to have transparent procedures that could be published for the September 1997 CEFACT Plenary. 4. It was agreed that the working language during CSG meetings would be English, although the reports from the meetings would be published in all three, official, ECE languages. 5. It was further agreed that work between meetings would be done via e-mail. A closed, confidential list server shall be provided to the members and the Rapporteurs beginning in April 1997. CSG Work Items Publication of UN/EDIFACT Directories 6. In accordance with document TRADE/R.650, paragraph 29, point 2; after receiving the recommendation for publication from GE.1 as well as an audit statement recommending publication, the CSG approved the standard UN/EDIFACT D.97A directory for publication by the secretariat. Management of MoUs with External Organizations 7. In accordance with document TRADE/R.650, paragraph 29, point 3 which gives the ESG the responsibility of managing, for the Plenary, MoUs with external organizations; the CSG approved the following Management Team for the ECE/ISO/IEC MoU: - H. Bates, - H. Hansell, - J. Kubler, - K-D. Naujok, - R. Power, - F. Vuilleumier, - R. Walker. 8. The MoU team was to meet on Monday, 24 March 1997, with the ISO central secretariat in order to discuss current procedures, the equivalence of UN/ECE experts within ISO groups, and other issues. The team would report on the results of this meeting to the May 1997 CSG meeting. 9. The CSG discussed the need to develop a more detailed "2nd level" of the MoU by getting the chairs of groups together in order to develop joint work programmes, including the need to make parties within CEFACT, ISO and IEC aware of the need to develop this 2nd level. 10. MoUs are not always the best way ensure coordination between organizations. Therefore, the CSG should also identify other, effective ways to cooperate with outside organizations. It was agreed to place this subject on the agenda for the May 1997 CSG meeting. 11. The importance of extending and improving CEFACT's relationships with WTO as soon as possible was emphasized. Migration of GE.1 and GE.2 Activities 12. As mandated by paragraph 11 of WP.4/TRADE/CRP.122/Rev.1 (WP.4 Bureau Proposal for a Migration Plan) which was approved by the September 1996 session of WP.4, the CSG appointed the following officers for GE.1 and GE.2 during the migration phase: - GE.1: Chair, H.Bates; Vice Chair, K-D. Naujok; - GE.2: Chair, D.Dima; Vice Chair, C. Wolf. 13. The question of how to make the migration progress as quickly as is possible shall be further discussed during the May CSG meeting. Promotion 14. The secretariat was asked to write a letter to Ministers of Foreign Affairs and to Permanent delegations informing them of the establishment of CEFACT and its global work. They were also asked to organize an information session on CEFACT for the permanent delegations. Programme of Work 15. It is expected that revised mandates for the ITT and Legal groups will be submitted to the May 1997 CSG meeting for approval. 16. E. Peeters was nominated to prepare a matrix for the draft work programme with the assistance of D. Dobbing, R. Battersby and J. Kubler. This work programme shall: þ be decomposed into principal items, sub-items etc; þ identify resource requirements with an indication of their source (secretariat or delegations) þ identify deliverables. Meeting Dates and Agenda for Next Meeting 17. It was agreed that the dates for the next two meetings would be as listed below. The meeting schedule for the 18 months beginning May 1997 would be decided at the next meeting, and updated at each subsequent meeting, so that the dates for the next 18 months would always be known (as required by TRADE/R.650). þ 1997-May-21/23 in Geneva þ 1997-August-18/21 in Geneva 18. The following items were suggested for the agenda of the May 1997 meeting. Further suggestions for the agenda should be sent to the CSG Chair no later than 1 May 1997. 1) Mandates for approval 2) Work Programme Matrix 3) CSG Procedures 4) Report from MoU Management Group and a wider discussion on MoUs with other organizations 5) Promotion and marketing of CEFACT and its work ______________________