Geneva, 31 March 1999

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:

Mr. Hans Hansell

Trade Division

United Nations Economic Commission

for Europe (UN/ECE)

Palais des Nations, Room 442

CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

Tel: +41 22 917 2457

Fax: +41 22 917 0037

E-mail: hans.hansell@unece.org

Website: http://www.unece.org/cefact