**Summary of the 10^th^ UN/CEFACT Plenary**

**May 17-19, 2004**

**Geneva, Switzerland**

# 1. Introduction: 

This document is a short summary of key topics and results from the
10^th^ UN/CEFACT Plenary on May17-19, 2004. This summary is distributed
to the U.S. TAG to UN/CEFACT as a basis for the Post-Plenary conference
call scheduled for June 11, 2004. Those who would like a more
comprehensive coverage of the plenary may consult the UN/ECE web site. A
listing of documents related to this plenary may be found at:
<http://www.unece.org/cefact_meetings/plenary04/docs/list_doc_04.htm>.

This summary is divided into five sections:

1.  Introduction

2.  Progress on U.S. Objectives

3.  Additional Important Topics

4.  Action Items for the U.S. TAG

5.  Topics for the Next U.S. TAG Conference Call (June 11, 2004, 11 am
    EDT)

# 2. Progress on U.S. Objectives

U.S objectives for the UN/CEFACT Plenary:

1.  Put in place an effective Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy

2.  Reorganize UN/CEFACT to ensure clear accountability, transparency,
    and efficiency

3.  Establish better methods to minimize redundancy and improve
    collaboration

4.  Approve various work products of the UN/CEFACT working groups

**Objective #1:** To work with the members to develop an Intellectual
Property Rights (IPR) policy that permits the full participation of all
interested parties and supports the development of free and open
standards that support the expansion of electronic business.

**Progress:** The UN/CEFACT IPR policy remains an issue. The U.S.
delegation communicated the concerns about the UN Office of Legal
Affairs (OLA) proposed IPR policy The majority of the Plenary members
expressed similar concerns about the viability of continuing the
UN/CEFACT program of work under the IPR policy proposal from the OLA.
During the last day of the meeting, SAP and the German delegation
reported that SAP would withdraw from participating in the UN/CEFACT
work until there is an acceptable resolution on the IPR policy. SAP did
offer continue to work with CEFACT on resolving the IPR policy. Other
companies may come to similar conclusions.

The UN/CEFACT Legal Rapporteur (David Marsh) provided a concise
presentation and report on the IPR topic and recommended that the
UN/CEAFCT continue to negotiate with OLA to achieve agreement on an
effective IPR policy. There were some indications that the OLA is
re-assessing its IPR policy recommendations and re-considering the
recommendations from WIPO. The Plenary requested the Legal Rapporteur to
continue the negotiations with OLA and to deliver an effective IPR
policy result before the CEFACT Forum in September 2004. Some country
delegations are investigating other avenues for their governments to
emphasize to the UN and to the UN OLA the critical need to change to an
effective IPR policy.

####### Decision 04-15

The Plenary supported the principles contained in the draft IPR policy
of the CSG and requested the support of the senior management of the
UNECE in resolving the matters related to IPR efficiently. The Plenary
recognized the critical importance of having an effective IPR policy in
place as soon as possible to respond to user requirements.

The Plenary requested the Legal Rapporteur and the secretariat to
discuss urgently the matter further with the OLA in order to make more
effective and improve the current wording regarding indemnity in the
version suggested by the OLA and to report to the Forum in September so
as to reassure the users as soon as possible.

**Objective #2:** Reorganize UN/CEFACT to ensure clear accountability
for all participants in developing standards, clear roles and
responsibilities for all participants, and conduct all business in an
open and transparent manner.

**Progress:** The Plenary agreed that it is essential to improve the
CEFACT organization and operations. Three proposals for reorganization
were distributed prior to the meeting:

-   "UN/CEFACT Management Structure Recommendations" submitted by the
    UN/CEFACT Steering Group" (CSG) (document: TRADE/CEFACT/2004/27),

-   "Secretariat Comments on the Management Structure, Mandate and Terms
    of Reference" (document: TRADE/CEFACT/2004/37)

-   "TBG's Comments & Proposals Concerning the UN/CEFACT Steering
    Group's UN/CEFACT Recommendations" (document:
    TRADE/CEFACT/2004/35/Rev.1)

The Plenary adopted a combination of the ideas from the three proposals.
The details are provided on the UN/ECE web site. The adopted changes
(illustrated in document: TRADE/CEFACT/2004/MISC 10) include:

-   disband the CSG,

-   replace the Forum Coordination Team (FCT) with a Forum Management
    Group (FMG) which will have additional responsibilities. The FMG
    chair and vice chair will be elected by the Forum. Each of the
    working groups (TMG, TBG, ATG, ICG and LG) will have one member on
    the FMG. TBG shall have two additional members/seats in the FMG
    assigned for the first two years. Subsequently, this will be
    reviewed by the Plenary.

-   establish a Plenary Bureau to assist with the ongoing strategic and
    planning tasks of the Plenary. The Bureau includes: the chair of the
    Plenary, five vice chairs, the FMG chair, the FMG vice chair and a
    representative of the UN ECE Secretariat.

Members of the Plenary submitted nominations for the Bureau vice chairs,
and then the Plenary voted. The Plenary vice chairs are: Mr. Mike Doran
(CERN), Mr. Tahseen Kahn (India), Mr. Duane Nickull (Canada), Mr. Mark
Palmer (USA) and Ms. Christina Rahlen (Sweden). The Bureau vice chairs
will be assigned specific areas of focus: including: trade facilitation
strategy, eBusiness strategy, eBusiness external affairs, marketing and
implementations. The Bureau held its first meeting after the Plenary
meeting adjourned and had its first conference call on the May 28, 2004.
Based on these initial interactions, and the participation by the UN ECE
Secretariat, the Bureau appears to have an effective team for fulfilling
its assignments.

Additionally, the Plenary requested the FMG to develop joint procedures
for all working groups.

**Objective #3:** To establish better methods to minimize redundancy and
duplication in work and develop more effective methods for working with
other standards bodies

**Progress:** The Plenary adopted the programs of work presented by the
working groups but decided that a unified UN/CEFACT Program of Work
should be prepared each year for the Plenary's approval. The Plenary
requested the Forum Management Group, in cooperation with the
secretariat, to issue documents TRADE/CEFACT/2004/17 -- 21 in a single
UN/CEFACT Program of Work by the end of 2004.

In the review and discussion on the "UN/CEFACT's eBusiness Vision,
Business Driving Technology" (document: TRADE/CEFACT/2004/9), the U.S.
recommended that the vision document should be restructured with a
business view and that this should be supplemented by an "eBusiness
conceptual framework" which would be used to place the UN/CEFACT program
of work and the work of other standards development organizations, e.g.,
ISO, IEC, and OASIS. The framework would be used to assess how to best
deliver the needed standards and infrastructure and then adjust programs
of work to optimize the use of resources and centers of expertise.

**Objective #4:** To approve various work products of the UN/CEFACT
working groups and progress them to the next stage

**Progress:** The Plenary decided to forward the CCTS specification to
the fast track approval of the TC154 of the International
Standardization Organization (ISO). The Plenary noted the BPSS
specification and requested TMG, through its Chair, to circulate the
full specification and a scope of BPSS 1.1 to review the comments
received from Heads of Delegation by the 19 August 2004 and to inform
the Plenary of the outcome of that review.

The U.S. raised concerns about the status of the BPSS work and the
process by which BPSS 1.1 was proposed for moving to ISO TC 154. A few
other delegations raised similar concerns. The Korean delegation
reported that three projects had successfully implemented BPSS and that
they consider BPSS 1.1 ready to be forwarded to ISO. Other members of
the Plenary voiced the concern that if TMG already knows that there are
limitations and flaws in BPSS 1.1 and that work is already underway to
address these limitations, it is inappropriate to advance the work to
ISO until after TMG has completed this work. The U.S. recommended that
the normal 30 day review period should be extended to 60 days to
facilitate broader and more thorough review and comments on BPSS 1.1.
This is an immediate action item for the U.S. TAG (see action items in
Section 4).

# 3. Additional Important Topics

1.  **Assessment and Restructuring of UN/CEFACT Work Program**

In discussions with other delegations on the UN/CEFACT work program,
there was agreement on the importance of:

-   refining the work program for better linkage and collaboration with
    other standards development initiatives and

-   developing mechanisms by which the UN/CEFACT could be the forum for
    bringing the international community into agreement on the
    development and use (implementation, conformance and deployment) of
    electronic business standards.

These ideas will be incorporated into the U.S. TAG's input on revising
the "UN/CEFACT's eBusiness Vision, Business Driving Technology"
(document: TRADE/CEFACT/2004/9).

####### Decision 04-14

The Plenary decided to request the FCT to complement the text of the
vision with sections on trade facilitation and business focus by the end
of July 2004.

After this, the vision would be forwarded to the Bureau for any
additional comments.

1.  **Use of the term "BCF" (Business Collaboration Framework)**

Members of the Plenary expressed concerns as to the use of the term
"BCF" and how this was accelerated as the centerpiece "label" for the
UN/CEFACT work. Canada and Australia reported on successful uses of BCF
in projects and support for the concepts. The Plenary recommended that
participants and representatives of UN/CEFACT should endeavor to present
the full scope of the UN/CEFACT program instead of focusing on "BCF".
This topic will require follow-on discussions as the TAG develops its
input for the UN/CEFACT eBusiness vision and conceptual framework for
eBusiness standards and infrastructure.

Some in the Plenary observed that UMM had not achieved the intended
effect and that Business Collaboration Framework is a renaming for
broader adoption for the purpose of harmonization and integration of
business processes. Others expressed that opinion that UMM has not been
broadly adopted and that UMM should not be portrayed as the center piece
of the UN/CEFACT work program.

2.  **Cooperation with other Standards Development Organizations**

The Standards Liaison submitted a report and a supplementary document
"Key Issues and Risks Surrounding Liaison Arrangements between Standards
Development Organizations". The supplementary document provides
important analyses and recommendations which should be studied as part
of developing UN/CEFACT policies and guidelines on collaboration,
liaisons and shared results.

3.  **Trade Facilitation**

The UN ECE Secretariat considers it essential that UN/CEFACT strengthen
the "trade facilitation" aspects of its work program. Some delegations
consider trade facilitation and eBusiness as integrally linked and that
establishing a separate work item on trade facilitation would not be the
optimum action. The U.S. delegation agreed with this characterization
and voiced concerns about establishing a separate work item on trade
facilitation under UN/CEFACT. Additionally, members of the U.S.
delegation have concerns that establishing a new work program on trade
facilitation would duplicate work of other committees in ECE. 

####### Decision 04-13

The Plenary established a task force to make proposals, in cooperation
with the leadership of TBG and TBG15, on how to strengthen UN/CEFACT
work on trade facilitation taking into account documents
TRACE/CEFACT/2004/30 and 34. The Plenary wishes to see the results
presented inter-sessionally, at least at by the end of 2004. The Plenary
assigned the lead for this work to the Chairman's Policy Group.

4.  **Service Support Provider**

Although the U.S. considers it essential to first clarify and refine the
UN/CEFACT conceptual framework and work program prior to initiating work
of the Service Support Provider (SSP), the Secretariat wants to continue
progressing this issue. The Plenary agreed that is was important to
restructure the SSP requirements into manageable pieces, with the tasks
of organizing and managing Forum meetings being the first portion. Some
of the software vendors at the meeting indicated that they would
consider providing in-kind contributions for some of the SSP
capabilities, when an effective IPR policy is enacted.

# 4. Action Items for the U.S. TAG

Action Item #2004-1: Establish a TAG task force and schedule for BPSS
1.1 review.

This is a technical piece of work, and time should be taken to review
this properly. The BPSS draft is available at
<http://www.untmg.org/downloads/General/approved/BPSS-v1pt10.zip>

\"Decision 04-09

The Plenary decided to forward the CCTS specification to the fast track
approval of the TC154 of the International Standardization Organization
(ISO). The Plenary noted the BPSS specification and requested TMG,
through its Chair, to circulate the full specification and a scope of
BPSS 1.1 to review the comments received from Heads of Delegation by the
19 August 2004 and to inform the Plenary of the outcome of that
review.\"

Action Item #2004-2: Establish a TAG task force and schedule for review
and recommendations on UN/CEFACT eBusiness vision documents.

# 5. Topics for the Next U.S. TAG Conference Call (June 11, 2004, 11 am EDT)

1.  Additions or questions on the Summary of the 10^th^ UN/CEFACT
    Plenary

2.  Establish a TAG task force and schedule for BPSS 1.1 review

3.  Establish a TAG task force and schedule for review and
    recommendations on UN/CEFACT eBusiness vision documents

4.  Call for experts to participate in the U.S. TAG to UN/CEFACT
    (Federal Register and ANSI, *Standards Action)*

5.  Procedures for approving and registering experts on working groups

6.  Plans for the UN/CEFACT Forum Meeting, September 13-17, 2004 in
    McLean, VA