Trade

In 2008, work directly under the Committee on Trade included work on promotion, for example publication of a CD-ROM of all norms, standards and recommendations developed under its auspices, and support to the UNECE Multiplier Point Network. Contributions were also made to several global initiatives, such as the World Trade Organization’s Aid for Trade (AfT) Initiative. Here, as one key component of technology transfer in support of trade, UNECE stressed the need to include countries with economies in transition, as well as to help countries implement standards. Together with UNDP, a proposal was drafted for funding an AfT process, including meetings in Central Asia. This was based on a UNDP AfT assessments guide that had been developed with input from UNECE and other agencies.

Significant contributions were also made to the United Nations Chief Executives Board Inter-agency Cluster on Trade and Productive Capacity. This entity groups together organizations of the United Nations system involved in trade. In particular, UNECE contributed to the One United Nations process in Albania and provided assistance for a training workshop on trade and regulatory practices for United Nations Resident Coordinators from countries with economies in transition.

2008 was also a year of strengthened cooperation with the Inland Transport Committee. In February 2009, the annual sessions of both Committees will take place in the same week, and a joint Conference on Trade and Transport Facilitation will be organized at that time.

The Committee on Trade is currently reviewing its activities and looking at future options, a review that was mandated in 2008 by the UNECE Executive Committee. Several presentations and Issues Notes have been prepared to support discussions within the Executive Committee, as well as at the next session of the Committee on Trade. The main challenge in 2009 will be to examine thoroughly the available options in order for the Committee to be able to make recommendations about its future at its February 2009 session and then to implement any decisions emanating from the Executive Committee and the sixty-third session of the Commission.

Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and Standardization Policies. Public concern over unsafe or dangerous products that are routinely found in supermarket chains and in the home highlights the need for international cooperation against counterfeit and dangerous products. If, however, international standards are applied, they can guarantee safety and quality at all stages of a product’s life cycle. When engineers design a product, they can refer to international standards and norms set by Governments and authorities. When firms produce the product, they cooperate with competent bodies that check its conformity with the standards and norms. Finally, when distributors place the product on the market, national authorities monitor it to protect both workers and consumers from hazards.

The stakeholders that are involved in these delicate tasks value international cooperation and structured dialogue within the United Nations system. In November 2008, many of these stakeholders came together at the annual meeting of the Working Party on Regulatory Cooperation and Standardization Policies. They discussed the role of international cooperation in market surveillance and progressed work on a model for decision-making by the relevant authorities.

They also agreed to continue the work currently under way to reinforce regulatory cooperation in the field of equipment for explosive environments, with the goal of fostering the use of relevant international standards, promoting convergence in the legislation and ensuring mutual acceptance of test procedures and test results.

Back to back with the annual session, a panel session was jointly organized with the Working Party on Agricultural Quality Standards on «Company specifications – private standards”, to discuss standards that are not adopted by a national, regional or international body, but are mainly product and production process requirements imposed by buyers upon suppliers.

The delegates agreed that it might be difficult for small and medium-sized suppliers in both industrialized and developing countries to meet these requirements and thus take part in international trade. One way of assisting suppliers in low and middle-income countries may be to take general measures to facilitate trade, such as improved infrastructure and training. Aid that is geared to assist in compliance with specific private specifications, on the other hand, could be considered to be subsidization, and distort competition for both the supplier and the buyer.

In developing countries and countries with economies in transition, sub-standard goods still constitute a serious and unresolved problem. In certain sectors, 20 to 40 per cent of inspected goods are – for various reasons – non-compliant. Recommendation M, adopted by the Working Party in 2007, sets out practical and innovative ways to curb the proliferation of non-compliant products on the market, with the active involvement of a number of different actors, including state inspection bodies and consumer and manufacturer associations. However, in countries with strong state traditions and limited experience with self-regulation, and with weak and underfunded consumer representation, post-market surveillance is often unreliable. There is a need for increased funding for the continued implementation of this recommendation.

At its 2008 sessions, the Working Party on Agricultural Quality Standards and its four specialized sections adopted the following new and revised texts:

(a) Revised standard layouts for fresh fruit and vegetables and for dry and dried produce, which began a trial period of one year. The standard layouts are revised on a regular basis because of the rapidly changing production, handling and trading conditions.

(b) Nineteen new and revised standards/recommendations (for seed potatoes, early and ware potatoes, apples, pears, lettuce, avocados, tomatoes, cucumbers, apricots, peaches and nectarines, dried peaches, pistachio kernels and peeled pistachio kernels, inshell walnuts, blanched almond kernels, hazelnut kernels, inshell macadamia nuts, macadamia kernels, edible co-products and duck meat).

Two meat standards (porcine and llama/alpaca) and a colour gauge for inshell walnuts and walnut kernels were published as United Nations sales publications.

Work continued with OECD on the concentration of activities on the development and interpretation of agricultural quality standards within UNECE. Progress was made on drawing up the first UNECE explanatory brochure on sweet peppers.

In partnership with governmental organizations and the private sector, the secretariat organized several capacity-building and promotional workshops to help partners in countries with economies in transition draw up national standards harmonized with those of UNECE.

Demand for UNECE standards is expected to increase considerably with the implementation of the EU’s reform of the Common Market Organization for fruit and vegetables. The Working Party will also be asked to produce more explanatory material for the interpretation/application of its standards. The publications on meat standards for turkey, bovine and caprine will be released. The secretariat will continue its promotional and capacity-building programme, drawing on the resources of UNDA and of the Voluntary Russian Contribution Fund. The most important challenge for this work area will therefore be to both meet the user demands and maintain quality.

The United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) supports activities dedicated to improving the ability of business, trade and administrative organizations, from developed, developing and transition economies, to exchange products and relevant services effectively. Its principal focus is simple, transparent and effective processes for global trade and business. It strives to facilitate national and international transactions, by simplifying and harmonizing processes, procedures and information flows, and thus contributing to the growth of global commerce. UN/CEFACT has some 30 working groups that meet twice a year in Forum meetings, as well as separately between Forums. In April 2008, the Forum was held in Mexico City, and in November 2008, in Saly, Senegal, at the invitation of the respective Governments. These were the first UN/CEFACT Forums to be held in the Latin American and African regions.

In the course of 2007-2008 UN/CEFACT advanced a number of international standards. In particular, it more than quadrupled the number of entries in the United Nations Core Component Library (which defines data used both in documents and in electronic communications) and published updated versions of the UN/EDIFACT directory for electronic data interchange as well as four important international code lists. Recommendation No. 11 on the Documentary Aspects of the International Transport of Dangerous Goods was revised. Good progress was made on a Trade Facilitation Implementation Guide, an Addendum to the United Nations Layout Key for invoices (Recommendation No. 6) describing how to implement an electronic equivalent and on two other, new Recommendations: No. 34 on the Data Simplification and Standardization and No. 35 on establishing a legal framework for a Single Window.

Major challenges for UN/CEFACT in 2009 include:

• Achieving stakeholder priorities, and responding to topics of concern to the Executive Committee and the Committee on Trade;
• Strengthening communication with Governments, including foreign ministries, on UN/CEFACT’s achievements and activities;
• Publishing the UN/CEFACT Trade Facilitation Implementation Guide and promoting its use;
• Developing a critical mass of trade documents for which full implementation specifications exist for both standard paper and electronic versions;
• Making the full set of UN/CEFACT standards downloadable online;
• Increasing implementation of the UN/CEFACT framework of norms, standards and recommendations, particularly by small and medium-sized enterprises and low and middle income countries with economies in transition;
• Expanding the delivery of UN/CEFACT norms, standards and best practices through the electronic Business, Government and Trade (eBGT) initiative.