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UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE |
| UN/ECE NEWS |
Press Release ECE/TRADE/2000
Geneva, 28 April 2000
UN/EDIFACT.COM
The semantic reference for the international supply chain
Tour Eiffel, Paris, 20-24 March 2000
In a unique partnership between private and public sector organizations involved in the international supply chain, around 230 Electronic Business experts from 158 organizations (see list below) met at the global coordination conference for UN/EDIFACT (EWG)* in order to facilitate global business-to-business electronic exchanges.
In her opening address, Dr. Carol Cosgrove-Sacks, Director of the Trade Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) noted that
"Providing the standards and effective solutions that achieve the integrated view of the customer in the total supply chain while at the same time securing a fair, open and transparent process where all users can ‘buy into’ is a challenge that we face.
"Your achievements are recognized as valid to address problems faced at the global level. Building capacity through the cooperation of the companies involved in the international supply chain through the transfer of "votre savoir-faire" to countries most in need of trade and investment is therefore vital for a free and fair global trading system".
The meeting elected a new Chair, Mr. Pierre Georget, Gencod - EAN France and Vice Chair Mr. John Kemble, Manager, Electronic Commerce, Association of British Insurers.
Mr. Georget is Technical Director of Gencode EAN France. After 10 years of experience as Information System Manager in the retail industry, Mr. Georget joined Gencod as technical advisor for automatic data capture and bar coding and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) projects. Mr. Georget is Chairman of EDIFRANCE and of the AFNOR Standardization Committee for automatic data identification.
Mr. Kemble first ventured into electronic commerce in 1989, when he headed the newly formed IT Development Department at the Association of British Insurers. He represents the industry’s views on various Electronic Commerce standards bodies, and coordinates insurance electronic commerce activities. As responsible for InStep, a UK EDI initiative, he set up their first project involving the creation of XML standards for motor insurance. He is also Vice-Chair of EEG7, the EDIFACT European insurance group.
The next meeting of EWG will take place from 4 to 8 September 2000. Further information can be found at http://www.unece.org/cefact or http://www.edifact-wg.org EWG home pages.
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* EWG is the place where the essential tools for automated electronic business are being developed. These tools form the foundation of business to business electronic commerce, are used in a wide range of industries from automotive to retail, and have been implemented by hundreds of thousands of companies worldwide.
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Highlights from Paris
Electronic Business Day: Technologies and solutions for Electronic Commerce in the Business-to-Business environment.
The Electronic Business Day covered the following aspects of electronic commerce in Business to Business relations:
Electronic Commerce: Overview and comparisons
E-business is at the heart of enterprises. The ‘Fondation Internet Nouvelle Generation’, CEN – Information Society Standardization systems and UN/CEFACT addressed the opportunities and benefits or how to evaluate the activities made possible by Internet from a French, European and International perspective.
Evolution from a B to B perspective
Representatives from Microsoft, IBM and Sun presented the developments and exchanged their views on the use of electronic commerce for Business-to-Business.
Financial transactions and security
BNP Paribas and APACS presented the operational UN/EDIFACT financial transactions, on the road to electronic security.
XML and EDI in the supply chain
Approaches, evolutions and perspectives.
RosettaNet or how to build a common architecture for the different applications
Interactivity of the applications in commercial transactions, from supply to selling and payments.
Combined use of EDI and Internet – The MERITS project
The ‘Multiple European Railway Integrated Timetable Storage’ (MERITS) project will allow the automated maintenance of European railway timetables.
Modelling techniques in support of the industrial supply chain in the automotive industry
The Semantic reference for the French insurance companies
The use of Object modelling techniques for the generation of UN/EDIFACT and XML equivalent messages
Data storage and accounting
The integrated logistic approach in the French aeronautic industry
Harmonized electronics commerce practices in international transport
Business Domains Highlights
Finance – The group devoted the lion’s share of its time to the evolution of technology in connection with the fulfilment of business needs, namely the XML approach which is likely to complement UN/CEFACT message production in a rapidly evolving global market.
Insurance – The group drew participants from Australia, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, Guatemala, UK and the USA. The new global object-modelling project will unify the disparate efforts discussed in the regional reports. A global process model will be developed whilst at the same time reverse engineering of the UN/EDIFACT and local industry standards, in an effort to provide interoperability by harmonizing standards.
Transport – The group saw the attendance of 40 delegates from 15 countries. New attendance from the Russian Federation and Poland are a welcome addition to the global interest of UN/EDIFACT within the international transport industry. The continued increase of the use of UN/EDIFACT messages, particularly within the maritime sector, is attributed to the availability of Harmonized Implementation Guidelines, ITIGG documents.