UNUnited Nations Economic Commission for Europe

Press Release

[Index]

INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS TO PROGRESS PAPERLESS TRADING IN ASIA-PACIFIC
(Joint APEC-UN/CEFACT Capacity-building Symposium on Paperless Trading,
Seoul, 26-28 May)

Geneva, 3 June 2008 -- A major international Symposium, organized by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) has concluded that using open, harmonized, international standards is critical for successful cross-border paperless trading.

The objective of the Symposium, held last week in Seoul, was to identify instruments that would enable a “phased development” of paperless-trading among APEC’s member economies. A number are already quite advanced in implementation, whereas others are less ready to adopt paperless trading.

For developing countries, capacity-building will be critical. A mentoring programme among APEC’s member economies was proposed and participating organizations were called upon to collaborate on a joint capacity-building programme. It was also suggested that a regular communications channel be established among these organizations.

The Symposium called for a joint APEC-UN/CEFACT task force to be set up to develop both a common mission statement and projects for promoting the United Nations’ international standards and recommendations.

A priority requirement would be to engage high-level support from political and economic leaders. For this, an APEC convention such as a Ministerial meeting on e-commerce was suggested. A proposal was also made to prepare a recommendation on the use of the UN/CEFACT Core Component Library as the foundational data standard for cross-border paperless trading. This recommendation could then be submitted for consideration to all relevant intergovernmental organizations.

Special action was called for to encourage the private sector, including industry associations, to get involved in developing paperless trading and related standards. Emphasis was placed on the need to show a convincing business case that demonstrates the benefits of paperless trading to all supply-chain participants, including government agencies and small and medium-sized enterprises.

The Symposium recommended to UN/CEFACT that it consider requests for developing recommendations related to the Single Window and include a paperless-trading capacity-building project in the UN/CEFACT Electronic Business, Government and Trade (eBGT) project that is being launched.

Prior to the Symposium, a survey was conducted on paperless trading in 13 APEC economies. The consultant for the survey, Ms. Mary Kay Blantz, said “While it wasn’t surprising to discover that all 13 responding economies were active in paperless-trading, I didn’t expect to find such widespread support for international standards, as well as such willingness to participate in developing and implementing them.”

Other participating regional and international organizations that indicated their desire be part of the follow-up to the Symposium included the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC), and the World Customs Organization.

Mr. Mike Doran, Chairman of the UN/CEFACT Forum, Mr. Yung-Suh Park, Program Director of the APEC Secretariat and Mr. Lim Sangwon of the Korean Institute for Electronic Commerce, and Project Coordinator of the Symposium, unanimously agreed that the Symposium's conclusions and recommendations would make a significant difference by putting in motion processes that would improve the promotion and implementation of paperless trading, both in the APEC region and globally.

More information about UN/CEFACT can be found at: http://www.unece.org/cefact/

For further information, contact: [email protected]

Ref: ECE/TRADE/08/P04