Revised Mandate and Terms of Reference of the Team of Specialists on Environmental, Social and Governance Traceability of Sustainable Value Chains in the Circular Economy

Revised Mandate and Terms of Reference of the Team of Specialists on Environmental, Social and Governance Traceability of Sustainable Value Chains in the Circular Economy
Submitted by the secretariat for decision

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Team of Specialists (ToS) on Sustainable Fisheries has been established to support the development and implementation of standards for data exchange throughout the supply chain of the fishery sector. With its initial work programme successfully completed, this team will broaden its scope to support environmental, social and governance traceability systems in priority sectors for more responsible consumption and production patterns (United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12) and for the transition to a circular economy.
Building upon the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) e-business standards for agriculture and agri-food; fishery; garments and footwear; the transboundary movement of waste; the trade of products under sanitary or phytosanitary control; and the trade of endangered species of wild fauna and flora (CITES), this objective will be achieved by integrating such tools into the development of environmental, social and governance traceability approaches and standards for sustainable value chains. It will be further supported by the establishment of a multi-stakeholder collaborative mechanism for the collection and exchange of experiences, and for capacity building of key industry actors and vulnerable groups in particular, including in countries with economies in transition.
This document presents the mandate and terms of reference of the team of specialists, with the annexed proposed programme of work for the period 2021-2023 and is submitted by the secretariat to the twenty-seventh UN/CEFACT Plenary for decision.