- The Working Party on Facilitation of International Trade Procedures held its forty-third session in Geneva from 18 to 22 March 1996 under the chairmanship of Mr. T. Blomfeldt (FINLAND). During the session of the Working Party, a Meeting of Experts on Data Elements and Automatic Data Interchange (GE.1, fifty-third session) was held on 18 and 19 March 1996, a Meeting of Experts on Procedures and Documentation (GE.2, fifty-third session) was held on 20 March 1996, and a Joint Meeting of GE.1 and GE.2 was held on 21 March 1996.
- The session was attended by representatives from: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Republic of San Marino, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America.
- The session was attended by representatives of the European Union (EU).
- Representatives from: Australia, Brazil, Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Korea, Nigeria and Senegal participated under Article 11 of the Commission's terms of reference.
- The session was also attended by representatives of the secretariat of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), as well as by
representatives of the following intergovernmental organizations: the European
Free Trade Association (EFTA), the Central Office for International Railway Transport (OCTI) and the World Customs Organization (WCO). The following non-governmental organizations were represented: Comit‚ International des
Transports Ferroviaires (CIT), International Air Transport Association (IATA), European Electronic Messaging Association (EEMA), International Air Transport Association (IATA), International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Transfers (S.W.I.F.T), International Union of Railways (UIC). Also present at the invitation of the secretariat was a representative of the United Towns Agency for North-South Cooperation and the International Federation of Inspection Agencies (IFIA).
Item 1 - Adoption of the agenda
- The provisional agenda (TRADE/WP.4/194/Rev.1) was adopted.
Item 2 - Election of Officers
- Mr. T. Blomfeldt (Finland) was re-elected as Chairman. Ms. B. Curry (United States of America) was elected as Vice-Chairperson and Mr. D. Dima (Romania) was re-elected Vice-Chairperson with special responsibility for countries in transition. Mr. K. Itoh (Japan) was re-elected special representative to the Bureau for Article 11 countries. In view of the re-engineering process that the Working Party is currently undergoing and the anticipated establishment of a new Centre for Facilitation of Procedures and Practices for Administration, Commerce and Transport (CEFACT) in 1997, it was agreed that the officers' term should include the March 1997 session of the Working Party.
- In opening the meeting, the Chairman welcomed the delegation from the Islamic Republic of Iran which was participating in a WP.4 meeting for the first time.
- On behalf of the Working Party, the Chairman thanked the outgoing Vice-Chairperson, Mrs. Willenz-Gardner (United States), and expressed his personal gratitude for her contributions to the Working Party and, in particular, to the re-engineering process.
Item 3 - Matters arising from the re-engineering process of the Working Party
Documents:
- TRADE/WP.4/CRP.41 Ad Hoc Groups A&B Interim Report, Centre Implementation and Centre Work Programme
- TRADE/WP.4/CRP.43 Ad Hoc Group C Interim Report, Empowerment
- TRADE/WP.4/CRP.75 Programme of Work
- TRADE/WP.4/CRP.77 September 1995 Decisions on Re-engineering
- TRADE/WP.4/CRP.82 CDT Decisions on WP.4 Re-engineering
- The Chairman summarized the development of the re-engineering process and recalled that the re-engineering decision on the Working Party's future strategy taken by the Working Party during its forty-second session had been endorsed by the Committee on the Development of Trade during its forty-fourth session.
- He reca lled that the pending issues related to the implementation of these decisions including the development of procedures, structure and a programme of work. Draft versions of procedures, structure and empowerment documents had been discussed at length during the Heads of delegation's Meeting (TRADE/WP.4/CRP.41, TRADE/WP.4/CRP.43 and TRADE/WP.4/CRP.75) and a number of constructive comments had been received.
- The Chairman concluded that the Working Party supported the general direction of this work and, as a way forward, he encouraged delegations to submit written comments on the draft documents contained in TRADE/WP.4/CRP.41, TRADE/WP.4/CRP.43 and TRADE/WP.4/CRP.75, so that final versions could be developed for the September session. It was agreed that comments should be forwarded to the secretariat before 3 May 1996. Further, in order to facilitate delegations'
comments, it was agreed to place the present Re-engineering documents shown under this agenda item onto the World Wide Web.
Item 4 - Trade Facilitation and UN/EDIFACT in economies in transition
- The Regional Advisor on Trade Facilitation summarized the main points of his report to the Working Party contained in document TRADE/WP.4/CRP.81. As announced during the previous session in September 1995, the financial difficulties confronting the UN had resulted in a freeze on expenditures during the fourth quarter of 1995 and during the first quarter of 1996 the budget crisis had remained unresolved. As a result, the Regional Advisor had not been able to undertake field missions in response to requests from countries in transition.
- In order to overcome these constraints, the Regional Advisor had sought to identify sources of extra-budgetary funding. Initial responses to project proposals had been encouraging, but slow.
- One obstacle to attracting financial support for Trade Facilitation activities was the need to present the results of WP.4's work in a way easily understood by people who were not experts in international trade issues. Future benefits from progress made in the simplification of documents and procedures depend to a large extent upon improved communications and greater public awareness. This was true for many established market economies as well as for countries in transition.
- Reflecting this need, Central and East European delegates had placed their highest priority on having the Working Party's Recommendations published collectively for the first time. This emphasis on communications had also led to a project that was a collaborative effort with ROMPRO, the Romanian national trade facilitation body, to use the hypertext techniques of the Internet World Wide Web to present the relationship between the activities of GE.1 and GE.2 within the framework of the International Trade Transaction model. Based on the positive response of the Working Party to the initial results last September, the Regional Advisor had pursued development of this project. This Internet-based activity had been named, "TraFIX - Trade Facilitation Information Exchange" and could be accessed on the WWW at http://www.unicc.org/unece/trafix/. A mail list had also been set up to support this activity.
- TraFIX had become the focus of funding proposals to the World Bank and the European Commission. The objective being to provide Trade Facilitation organizations in transition economies with the means to adapt this presentation of international standards and codes to national languages and relate it to the business requirements of local small and medium-sized enterprises.
- The Vice Chair of WP.4 representing countries in transition (CIT) emphasized the importance of increasing and improving the communication of the Working Party's products to the large number of enterprises in the CIT seeking to become active in international trade.
- The Chairman of WP.4 drew delegates' attention to the gravity of the ECE's budget difficulties. Under current conditions, it was uncertain whether Regional Advisory services would be able to continue beyond June 1996. The Working Party decided to make a strong appeal to the Executive Secretary to retain the post of the regional adviser with UN funding. Should this fail, the Working Party decided to explore the possibility of obtaining extra budgetary resources to maintain the Regional Adviser with the secretariat.
Item 5 - Matters arising from the fifty-third session of the Meeting of Experts on Data Elements and Automatic Data Interchange (GE.1)
- The Chairman of the Meeting of Experts on Data Elements and Automatic Data Interchange presented the report of the fifty-third session of the Meeting as contained in document TRADE/WP.4/GE.1/103.
- On the basis of the proposals presented by GE.1, the Working Party agreed on the points summarized below:
Appointment of Rapporteurs
- WP.4 confirmed the appointment of the following Rapporteurs and Convenor:
- UN/EDIFACT RAPPORTEURS
Mr. K. Itoh (Japan) for the Asia EDIFACT Board (ASEB)
Mr. H. Bates (Australia) for the Australia/New Zealand EDIFACT Board (ANZEB)
Mr. B. Georgiev (Bulgaria) for the Central and Eastern European EDIFACT Board (CEEB)
Mr. R. Colcher (Brazil) for the Pan American EDIFACT Board (PAEB)
Mr. R. Power (Ireland) for the Western European and EBES Board (WEEB)
- STANDARDS LIAISON RAPPORTEUR
Mr. K. Naujok (Canada)
- CONVENOR OF THE MULTILINGUALISM AND TERMINOLOGY TEAM (MLT)
Mr. Y. Lauzon (Canada)
- WP.4 also agreed to the much regretted suspension of the African EDIFACT Board until such time as sufficient support could be found within the Region for an active Rapporteur.
UN/EDIFACT directories and documentation
- WP.4 approved TRADE/WP.4/R.1023/Rev.2 (UN/EDIFACT Rules for Presentation of Standardized Message and Directories Documentation) for use in the preparation of the documentation for UN/EDIFACT messages and directories.
- WP.4 approved the following change in publication of the UN/EDIFACT directories, recognizing that a technical paper on the implementation of this decision would be presented to the September 1995 session of GE.1.
"The UN shall continue to publish two directories per year to be known as UN/EDIFACT directories.
Within these directories:
- messages will have a release number that increments each time DMR(s) are applied to the message (as already implemented in D.94B, D.95A and D.95B);
- a release history for all messages will be included;
- the Status of 1 and 2 will be abolished.
As a consequence, in the future, all messages contained in UN/EDIFACT directories will have an equal status and all directories will be considered as being for implementation.
The above implies that when users decide to implement messages, they must decide on the most appropriate message version with its supporting directories. This reflects the existing business reality."
- WP.4 then approved the D.96A UN/EDIFACT directory (TRADE/WP.4/R.1182).
Technical issues and reports
- WP.4 agreed to the placement on the World Wide Web of TRADE/WP.4/CRP.40 and its addenda containing the Report of the Message Design Guidelines Group and the Message Design Rules (for forwarding and comment by the Regions).
- WP.4 adopted the following GE.1 resolutions regarding version 4 of the EDIFACT syntax:
1) GE.1,
Noting that there is an urgent need for the new version of the syntax by several categories of users
But also noting the comments made by several delegations, concerning the present technical content of documents TRADE/WP.4/R.1157, TRADE/WP.4/R.1157/Add.1, TRADE/WP.4/R.1157/Add.2, and TRADE/WP.4/R.1157/Add.3,
Resolves to progress the adoption of version 4 of the syntax (parts 1, 2, 3 and 8) as follows:
- The Syntax Development Group (SDG) is instructed to follow, at its next meeting (Concord, California, April 22-26), the strategy outlined in document CRP 79, and to review the editorial comments received on these parts of the syntax (in particular documents R.1216, R.1220 and CRP.80);
- The document produced by SDG shall then be transmitted, no later than June 30th, by the WP.4 secretariat to ISO, as an existing standard, to be processed by ISO for fast track procedure;
- Any substantive comments outstanding will be input to the ISO process.
2) GE.1 also directs that the techniques for the use of 'Dependency Notes' and 'Repeating Elements' shall not be applied to user directories until all of the concerns raised by users have been addressed. These shall be addressed in an enhanced version of the Message Design Rules to be applied for Version 4 of the syntax, and in the associated rules specified in the Technical Assessment Check List for use by the TAGs. The development of the additional design rules required for Version 4 shall be carried out in parallel to the ISO Fast Track process for 9735."
- WP.4 approved at Status 2 the CONTRL message as contained in TRADE/WP.4/R.1186 and TRADE/WP.4/R.1186/Corr.1 and presented by the Syntax Development Group.
- WP.4 further approved: Procedures for draft trial releases of 9735 [i.e. the EDIFACT syntax] to the UN (TRADE/WP.4/R.1187).
- WP.4 noted the research and development role of Ad hoc Group 1 and approved its interim report to GE.1 (TRADE/WP.4/R.1189) with the following minor amendment: paragraph 5.3 in Annex A to read: "The Chair of TG.1 will be confirmed by the Chair of AC.1".
- In the Standards Liaison Rapporteur's report (TRADE/WP.4/R.1191), WP.4 approved Recommendation 1 on page 3, i.e. its support for the Standards Liaison Team's comments on the second version of CD 14662, and the conclusion on page 9, copied below:
"The UN/ECE contends that the current CD (and the Australian contribution; a proposed rewrite) does not fulfil the basic requirement of a reference model (Reference: SC 30 Work Item 1 - DEVELOPMENT OF A REFERENCE MODEL THAT SERVES AS THE FRAMEWORK FOR COORDINATING THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXISTING AND FUTURE STANDARDS FOR THE INTERWORKING OF ORGANISATIONS VIA OPEN-EDI AND WILL PROVIDE A REFERENCE FOR THOSE STANDARDS). It focuses on the conceptual aspects rather than the base reference criteria. Therefore, it cannot act as the framework as envisaged in the IAeG report or in any MoU based on the IAeG report."
Other issues
- WP.4 approved a formal reminder to countries and Regions that UN/EDIFACT and EDIFACT are not the same, that EDIFACT refers only to the syntax while UN/EDIFACT refers to the entire body of work endorsed by the UN including the directories and messages. The Working Party further requested that, since this was a formal reminder, the secretariat send it by letter to all delegations.
- The responsible EDIFACT Rapporteurs noted that plans for the following Joint Rapporteurs Team Meetings (JRT) were progressing well and were on schedule: April 1996 in Igua‡u Falls Brazil, September 1996 in Helsinki and April/May 1997 in Singapore. It was further noted that while the dates for the Singapore JRT were tentative, the location was not.
Item 6 - Matters arising from the fifty-third session of the Meeting of Experts on procedures and Documentation (GE.2)
- The Chairman of the Meeting of Experts on Procedures and Documentation presented the report of the fifty-third session of the Meeting, as contained in document (TRADE/WP.4/GE.2/103). He reported on the progress made on several items relating to GE.2 activities.
Programme of work and priorities
1. WP.4 accepted the proposal of the delegation of Switzerland on the preparation of an electronic (computerized) version of the UN Layout Key and its submission to the next session of GE.2.
2. WP.4 noted that the programme elements 1.1.4 "Study on pre-shipment inspection procedure", 1.4.1.3 "Transport of dangerous goods" and 1.5.1 "Negotiable documents" (TRADE/WP.4/CRP.75) were being considered as possible priorities in the work of GE.2 and the future Centre.
Analysis of the International Trade transaction
3. WP.4 approved the activities undertaken by the Steering group of the Maintenance Agency for the International Trade Transaction (ITT) modelling. The decision was taken that these activities should be continued in close cooperation with GE.1 experts and to invite more experts to become members of the Steering group. WP.4 agreed to the GE.2 request that, to enable the work on ITT Modelling to continue, delegations be requested to comment on the model, particularly with regard to their national situations, so that their answers could be analyzed appropriately and added to the model. It was noted that the Steering group had started using the World Wide Web network for the promotion of ITT Modelling as well as the results of other trade facilitation work.
Recommendation No.4 "National Trade Facilitation Organizations"
4. WP.4 agreed that the list of National Trade Facilitation Bodies be maintained regularly by the secretariat.
Recommendation No.10 "Codes for ships' names"
5. WP.4 agreed to ask ICS to prepare a draft revision of this Recommendation for submission to the secretariat in mid-June 1996 and official publication for formal approval at the September 1996 session of GE.2.
Recommendation No. 16 "UN/LOCODE - Codes for Ports and other Locations"
6. The preparation of an updated version of the UN/LOCODE, now containing 22663 entries, was noted by WP.4. Delegations' comments on the introduction of diacritic signs into the location names were welcomed.
Recommendation No. 17 "PAYTERMS - Abbreviations for Terms of Payment"
7. WP.4 agreed to set up an ad hoc group on the revision of this Recommendation with participation from the delegations of Romania, Austria, France, Belgium and from the secretariat. A report will be submitted to the September 1996 session of GE.2.
Recommendation No.18 "Facilitation measures related to international trade procedures"
8. WP.4 agreed to consider the revision of this Recommendation in conjunction with International Trade Transaction (ITT) Modelling results, taking into account the fact that both the Recommendation and ITT Modelling cover the ITT as a whole.
Revision of the Kyoto Convention
9. WP.4 agreed to set up an ad hoc group, convened by the delegation of the Netherlands and consisting of representatives from the delegations of Germany, France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and from the secretariat to coordinate preparation of the WP.4 position on the revision of the Kyoto Convention (1972).
Publication of ECE/WP.4 Recommendations
10. To promote the implementation of ECE/WP.4 Recommendations, especially in countries in transition, and their amendment in some particular cases, WP.4 noted the information provided by the secretariat on the publication of documents ECE/TRADE/201, ECE/TRADE/202, ECE/TRADE/203, ECE/TRADE/204, ECE/TRADE/205, ECE/TRADE/206, ECE/TRADE/207 and ECE/TRADE/208 which contain respectively the revised Recommendations No.3, 5, 9, 11, 16 and new Recommendations No.24, 25 and 26 approved at the September 1995 session of WP.4.
Item 7 - Matters arising from the joint session on legal matters of the Meeting of Experts on Data Elements and Automatic Data Interchange and the Meeting of Experts on Procedures and Documentation
- One of the Legal Rapporteurs presented the report from the joint legal session of GE.1 and GE.2.
- WP.4 took note of the Legal Rapporteurs' Report (TRADE/WP.4/CRP.46) on activities since September 1995.
- It further noted that a liaison between WP.4 and ICC had been established on the E-100 project (electronic alternative to letter of credit). In addition, through an exchange of letters between UN/ECE and UNCITRAL, it had been agreed to deepen the cooperation between these two organizations.
- WP.4 approved the inclusion of the following items in the legal programme of work: data protection, self-invoicing, the use of certification authorities and administrative requirements for paper documents in countries in transition.
- It was also approved submission of the TEDIC study (TRADE/WP.4/R.1219) to the Legal Rapporteurs Team for further examination and possible recommendations.
- Ms. A. Troye (Commission of the European Community) was re-elected and Mr. R. Sorieul (UNCITRAL) was elected as Legal Rapporteurs for the following three sessions. It was noted that Mr. J. Ritter (United States) was not seeking re-election as Legal Rapporteur.
- The Legal Rapporteurs informed the Working Party that there would be no Legal Rapporteurs Team Meeting during the Brazil JRT but an informal meeting were planned to be held in Europe with the meeting date to be confirmed.
Item 8 - Cooperation with other International bodies and organizations
- A member of the secretariat informed the Working Party on the ongoing cooperation with the ECE Inland Transport Committee.
- The secretariat also informed WP.4 of the Intersecretariat (ECE, UNCTAD and ITC) Task Force's activities. Common projects included development of a brochure describing the Trade Facilitation and Efficiency work of the three organizations: Electronic Trading Opportunity messages; a handbook on export documents; and a Trade Efficiency/Trade Facilitation event that would take place in Johannesburg, South Africa 29-30 April 1996. The Chairman explained that in his opinion there was still a certain lack of information regarding activities, in particular with regard to UNCTAD, and requested that the secretariat make efforts to improve the situation.
Item 9 - Recent progress at the national, regional or international levels
- The UK delegation reported on the reorganization of its Simpler Trade Procedures Board (SITPRO), noting that Mr. R. Walker now had a new role as Special Advisor on International EDI Standards to the Department of Trade and Industry and consequently, had stepped down as Chief Executive. The Chief Executive was now Mr. R. Dale, who had been with SITPRO for many years and was a past Chairman of WP.4/GE.2. They reassured WP.4 that SITPRO remained the UK's trade facilitation agency, sponsored by the UK government, a major part of its new role being to help and encourage UK traders to improve their competitive position by using the most effective trading practices.
- SITPRO's core mandate remained unchanged and was: to guide, stimulate and assist the rationalisation of trade procedures and documentation and information flows associated with them. However, since 1 January 1996, EDI standards work had been transferred to the UK Electronic Commerce Association under the management of UKCEDIS which had led the UK's delegation to GE.1. In addition, SITPRO's software business was in the process of being sold to a private buyer.
- The delegation concluded in noting that SITPRO would continue to work on improving the efficiency of the overall trading process and, while it was no longer responsible for EDI standards, it would seek to ensure that relevant electronic commerce techniques were implemented as fully as possible in international trade. Further, while it would be placing greater emphasis on awareness of best practices in the UK, it fully recognized the need for international solutions and thus would also continue with its representational role in regional and international discussions.
- The delegation from Romania informed the Working Party that a new Centre dealing with external trade (Centre Romain du Commerce Exterieur) had been established in his country. The Centre will also be responsible for Trade Facilitation Matters.
- The Vice-Chairperson, Ms. B. Curry, informed the Working Party of a project between three Customs services within NAFTA who will exchange messages using the UN/EDIFACT format.
Item 10 - Programme and organization of work and priorities
- The Chairman explained that items under this agenda item had been discussed in connection with the re-engineering debate. No further discussion took place.
Item 11 - Other business
Documents:
TRADE/WP.4/R.1221 A Proposal to Enhance the ECE/WP.4 Documentation Services
TRADE/WP.4/CRP.69 EWOS Technical Guide on a Descriptive Technique for EDI Message Profiles
TRADE/WP.4/CRP.70 Pan American EDIFACT Board Resolutions
TRADE/WP.4/CRP.73 Revision of Recommendation 17, "PAYTERMS"
TRADE/WP.4/CRP.78 Report on ICC Initiative to Replace the Paper Based Letter of Credit with an Electronic Alternative
- The Norwegian delegation introduced their proposal to Enhance the ECE/WP.4 Documentation Services (Trade/WP.4/R.1221) which suggests that the secretariat make all documentation available on CD-ROM.
- The secretariat informed the Working Party that it preferred to disseminate information through the World Wide Web (and discontinue the use of ITUDOC) but that a CD-ROM solution could be useful for archiving documents.
- Several delegations explained that they were interested in a CD-ROM solution and supported the use of the World Wide Web. However, some delegation also explained that they had experienced some technical problems with WWW and suggested that the ITUDOC service should not be discontinued until the technical problems were resolved.
- Following a proposal from the Norwegian delegation, WP.4 decided to set up an ad hoc group to look into the question of how to store and disseminate information electronically. With Norway as convener it was agreed that the group should comprise representatives from the following delegations: Canada, EU, Croatia, The Czech Republic and Italy as well as from the secretariat.
- The secretariat then informed delegates of the following WP.4 meeting dates and deadlines for document submission:
Deadlines
Week beginning Translation Issuance as "R" Document
Monday, 16 September 1996 15 June 1996 1 August 1996
Monday, 17 March 1997 16 December 1996 30 January 1997
- The Chairman informed the Working Party that due to the recent freeze on recruitment and budget constraints with the UN, two out of the three General Service staff allocated to service Trade Facilitation activities were not in post. Instead, volunteers had helped service the Working Party and performed substantive work in the production of documents and data entry. He concluded that this situation was very unsatisfactory and the Working Party decided to strongly request the Executive Secretary of ECE to fill the vacant posts as soon as possible.
- The following meeting dates for the Working Party were approved:
44th Session - 16-20 September 1996
45th Session - 17-21 March 1997
- WP.4 confirmed the following meeting dates:
Joint Rapporteurs Team Meeting - 15-19 April 1996, Iguacu Falls
Joint Rapporteurs Team Meeting - 9-13 September 1996, Helsinki
Joint Rapporteurs Team Meeting - 21-25 April 1997, Singapore
Ad hoc Group 1 - 24-28 June 1996, Munich
Standards Liaison Team - April 1996 JRT
- September 1996 JRT
EDIFACT Steering Group - 19-21 June 1996, Geneva
ISO 7372 Maintenance Agency - To be agreed
MDG Group, Draft & Edit Team - April 1996 JRT
- 21-25 October 1996
Syntax Development Group - 22-26 April 1996, Concord
- December 1996 (tentative)
Legal Rapporteurs Team Group - September 1996 JRT, Helsinki
Directory Production Team - 17-21 June 1996, Geneva
- 18-22 Nov. 1996, Geneva
Directory Audit Team - 1-5 July 1996, Geneva
- 9-13 Dec. 1996, Geneva
BSR MC Meeting - 5 July 1996
- Contact information for submission of comments:
Mr. Hans A. Hansell
Trade Facilitation Section
UN/ECE Trade Division
Palais des Nations, Rm. 442
1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
Fax: 41 22 917 0037
E-Mail: hans.hansell@unece.org
Item 12 - Adoption of the report of the forty-third session
- Having adopted the reports of the fifty-third sessions of its Meetings of Experts, GE.1 and GE.2, which contained items of substance for its approval, the Working Party agreed that the report of its forty-third session should be prepared by the secretariat, sent to Heads of Delegation for comment and cleared with its Chairman before circulation.
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