Geneva, 31 March 1999
ECE/TRADE/99/5
UN CENTRE
MAKES FURTHER ADVANCES IN TRADE FACILITATION AND ELECTRONIC
BUSINESS
The United Nations Centre for the
Facilitation of Procedures and Practices for Administration,
Commerce and Transport (UN/CEFACT) held its annual meeting in
Geneva on 16-17 March 1999. The Centre's objective is to
stimulate and work for simple, transparent, effective processes
for global commerce and it actively encourages organizations to
contribute to the development of its recommendations and
standards.
Following a highly successful seminar on
15 March on the current issues in Trade Facilitation and
Electronic Business, the Plenary met during 16 and 17 March and
was attended by 37 countries and 18 international organizations.
The results of the meeting emphasized the
Centre's unique role of simplifying global trade in the era of
electronic business. Among the highlights were:
A new Recommendation was approved in
the important area of Pre-shipment Inspection. This
Recommendation, which was supported by the World Customs
Organization, discourages the practice of Pre-shipment
Inspection in general. The issue is of considerable
interest to international traders and is likely to be
discussed by the World Trade Organization.
Three other revised trade
facilitation recommendations to Governments were approved
and work on new recommendations announced, including one
on the adoption of the Customs harmonized system in the
trade and transport sector.
A recommendation to the United
Nations Commission for International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)
to update international conventions to take account of
electronic business.
The recognition of the importance
of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to the
growth of the global economy and their need for simple
open processes for international trade. To support these
processes, the Plenary endorsed the results of a project
to identify a core set of data and messages. Known as
SIMPL-EDI, this work will now be incorporated into the
mainstream of UN/CEFACT's activities. Companies that have
applied the concept of SIMPL-EDI have been able to
introduce simpler, more efficient, business processes and
have become more effective in their trading
relationships.
As part of its continuing review of
new technologies, the Centre recognized XML (eXtensible
Markup Language) as a key tool in extending electronic
business, particularly over the Internet, to a larger
community of users. The potential for XML to play an
important role in expanding the range of available
technologies was identified and the Centre is committed
to influencing its use as a means of ensuring
interoperability, harmonization and standardization to
the benefit of simpler global trade.
Some important measures were
adopted to improve the efficiency of UN/EDIFACT - one of
the cornerstones of worldwide Electronic Business.
Coordination was to be further
improved with the other United Nations regional
commissions in the Asia-Pacific region, Latin America,
Africa and Western Asia, and the relationships with the
following international organizations strengthened: the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD), the World Customs Organization (WCO), the World
Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
For further information, please
contact:
Hans Hansell, Chief,
UN/CEFACT secretariat
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Tel: (+41 22) 917 24 57
Fax: (+41 22) 917 00 37
E-mail: [email protected]