Documents

Industry is increasing the use of smart container technology and smart devices (IoT) within their supply chains to improve security, visibility, predictability and to plan more efficiently. They transmit to the smart device’s management system, among other things, the location of the assets (such as shipping containers) to which they are attached or embedded. However the context of where the assets are at a given point in time is often not known unless it is part of the transport plan and is situated within an existing virtual geographic boundary, a geofence.

The UN/CEFACT white paper “Smart Containers: Realtime Smart Container Data for Supply Chain Excellence” outlined a number of practical use cases for a wide variety of actors to implement smart containers (or devices) within their supply chain. However, as many parties can be involved in a transport movement, and container owners may make use of several

vendors of smart devices, along with the shippers’ own smart devices being deployed, there is currently no single definition of a facility, or a methodology to define those facilities with a geofence.This leads to duplicated effort and, more importantly, differences between definitions of the same facility (terminal, berth, container facility or other) and there is no guidance or methodology on how to draw these geofences or to improve quality when reviewing them.

survey report

SCTCS 2024 PPT on Item 10: Removing Regulatory and Procedural Barriers to Trade. Forthcoming Country Studies: Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan- N. Shorysheva

SCTCS 2024 PPT on Item 8: Basics of Risk Management in Trade - C. Robson

SCTCS 2024 PPT on Item 8: Mainstreaming gender in quality infrastructure - C. Kraft Buchman

SCTCS 2024 PPT on Item 8: The Basics of Quality Infrastructure, Certification - M. Logghe

SCTCS 2024 PPT on Item 8: The Basics of Quality Infrastructure, Market Surveillance - J. Deconinck

SCTCS 2024 PPT on Item 8: The importance of metrology in Quality Infrastructure - I. Dunmill

SCTCS 2024 PPT on Agenda item 8 - Basics of Quality Infrastructure for Trade Publication - LThompson

SCTCS 2024 PPT on Item 7. Way Forward: Fostering Sustainable Growth and Economic Diversification. Role of Trade in Services- E Turk

SCTCS 2024 presentation on Item 8 Report on activities, WP.6 - M Pangallo

As digital technology continues to revolutionize global trade, opportunities arise for enhanced efficiency, transparency, and sustainability. Leveraging these advancements, UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) developed a suite of tools designed to streamline trade processes and promote sustainable practices. This policy discussion aims to explore how these tools can be effectively utilized to foster sustainable and digital trade.

Clarification of WP.6 working procedures

SCTCS 2024 PPT on Item 7: Trade in Services for Development-WTO-M. Roy

SCTCS 2024 PPT on Item 7: EBRD Trade Facilitation Programme - Marco Nindl

SCTCS 2024 PPT on Item 7: Trade facilitation: findings from Business Process Analyses - Nadya Sporysheva

SCTCS 2024 PPT on Item 7: Quality infrastructure for trade: challenges to integration into value chains - Ariel Ivanier

SCTCS 2024 PPT on Item 6 - Challenges arising from the “Liquidity Crisis”- Elisabeth Türk

SCTCS 2024 PPT on Item 6: OIOS Evaluation of Sub-Programmes 4 and 6 - Elisabeth Türk

SCTCS 2024 PPT on Item 5: United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) - Maria Teresa Pisani

SCTCS 2024 PPT on Item 5: International cooperation in the field of developing Quality Infrastructure- I. Dunmill

SCTCS 2024 PPT on Item 4: Capacity-building and advisory services - Mario Apostolov

SCTCS 2024 session PPT on Item 3: UNECE Economic Cooperation and Trade Division, 70th Commission

SCTCS 2024 presentations on Item 3 Programme of Work 2024

Summary

In May 2023, the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business launched the project titled “Transparency at scale – digital solutions for trust, resilience and sustainability: verifiable credentials in supply chains”. Among the deliverables of this project is Recommendation No. 49, which will offer policy guidance on the implementation of traceability and transparency at scale through digital instruments, such as the United Nations Transparency Protocol for Digital Product Passports.  

The fifth United Nations Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation, jointly conducted by the five United Nations Regional Commissions and UNCTAD, offers an in-depth and comparative analysis of the implementation of 60 trade facilitation measures in over 160 countries worldwide in 2023. Aside from measures in the WTO TFA, the survey covers the implementation of cutting-edge paperless and cross-border trade facilitation measures and those supporting more inclusive and sustainable trade, thus going beyond the WTO TFA to a “WTO+” implementation. In this edition of the survey, ‘trade facilitation for e-commerce’ and ‘trade facilitation and wildlife protection’ measures were added to the survey on a pilot-basis, due to the rising importance of cross-border e-commerce and the increasing need to combat illegal wildlife trade.

Summary
In May 2023, the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) launched the project titled “Transparency at scale – digital solutions for trust, resilience and sustainability: verifiable credentials in supply chains”. Among the deliverables of this project is Recommendation No. 49, which will offer policy guidance on the implementation of traceability and transparency at scale through digital instruments, namely the United Nations Transparency Protocol (UNTP) for Digital Product Passports (DPPs). These instruments aim to ensure interoperability, to meet disclosure requirements and to carry conformity credentials, sustainability information and other data about goods exchanged in value chain transactions.

Draft Recommendation No. 49: Transparency at Scale (ECE/TRADE/C/CEFACT/2024/6), which completed a 60-day public review period on 19 June 2024, is tabled to the thirtieth Plenary of UN/CEFACT for information and discussion under Item 5: “Technical dialogue on global solutions for digital, sustainable and resilient value chains in support of the green and digital transformations” of the Plenary Agenda (ECE/TRADE/C/CEFACT/2024/1).
This briefing note outlines the steps for the drafting, consultation, finalization and adoption of Recommendation No. 49 and its accompanying instruments, namely the UNTP for DPPs, in line with the open development process for UN/CEFACT deliverables (ECE/TRADE/C/CEFACT/2016/17).

Document ECE/TRADE/C/CEFACT/2024/INF.4 is submitted to the thirtieth session of the UN/CEFACT Plenary for information.

A biennial survey of member States is carried out by WHO on implementation of THE PEP. This document provides a visual summary of the results of the 2023 survey.

The report is submitted in line with the Technical Cooperation Strategy of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) adopted by the Commission at its 62nd session and revised and adopted by 116th session of the Executive Committee (EXCOM), by which member States requested the Secretariat to submit annual reports on UNECE technical cooperation.

The report presents technical cooperation and related activities structured by the core Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) where UNECE has the strongest impact. The report aims to identify the best SDG-fit for technical cooperation activities implemented during 2023. However, considering that the SDGs are multidisciplinary in nature, it should be noted that almost all UNECE technical cooperation activities contribute to several SDGs.