Re: UNeDocs requirements for the UBL Forms Presentation Subcommittee

["G. Ken Holman" <gkholman@CraneSoftwrights.com>]

Please find below the response received from UNeDocs.

..................... Ken


Subject: Re: UNeDocs requirements for the UBL Forms Presentation Subcommittee
To: "G. Ken Holman" <gkholman@CraneSoftwrights.com>
Cc: Jean.Kubler@unece.org, Balaji.Duraiswamy.Loganathan@unece.org
From: Markus.Pikart@unece.org
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003 09:06:05 +0200

Ken,

Thank you for your interest in UNeDocs and in the standards that the UN has
developed for international trade documentation.
UNeDocs (United Nations electronic Trade Documents) is a project of the
UNECE to implement aligned international trade document in paper and
electronic format. UNeDocs documents allow traders and administrations to
choose the document technology that meets best their technical, legal and
administrative requirements. The aim of the project is not to abolish paper
but rather to provide a migration path from paper environments towards the
digital economy.  The focus of the UNeDocs project is to provide solutions,
which are compatible with the requirements of SMEs, developing countries
and transition economies. UNeDocs is following a "paper up" approach that
is the document is defined in terms of the UN Layout Key (UNLK) and a data
model based on the UN Trade Data Element Directory (UNTDED) which is a
component of the UNLK. The compliance with these standards is key as they
provide the basis for acceptance of the documents in trade and in the
regulatory environment such as Customs. We must keep in mind that the UNLK
is part of major international agreements such as the Kyoto Convention, the
TIR convention and numerous other national and international agreements.
Thus any new document technology has to be compliant with the standard if
it is to be accepted in the present trade environment. In UNeDocs the
EDIFACT and XML instances refer back to the paper document. In the case of
the XML instances we developed style sheets that render the XML document
into a valid UNLK conform PDF instance based on a XSLT:FO style sheet. The
UNeDocs DigitalDocument Web Services
http://www.unemed.org/edocs/onlineaccess.jsp provide access to the style
sheet. The fact that UNeDocs is compatible with the requirements of the
"low end" is of specific interest for the high tech environments: Only if a
solution can be used by anyone there will be sufficient support to
implement it. UNeDocs has developed an adaptive national deployment plan
that takes into account the different readiness of countries to implement
aligned trade documentation: stage one develops an agreed set of aligned
paper documents, stage two the electronic equivalents and stage three
supports the implementation in key administrations and industries in the
country.


The UNeDocs project proves that the combinations of existing trade
standards and latest Internet technologies such as XML can provide new
solutions to international trade. The existing trade standards are an
important resource for the definition of the documents as they provide both
the framework to analyse the document and they are the basis, which
provides the legitimacy of the document in international trade. To support
the alignment of national trade documentation we have created a UNeDocs
resource page at http://www.unece.org/etrades/unedocs/toolset.htm (UNeDocs
ToolKit). I hope you will find this link of use for your project. The UNECE
together with two other UN regional commissions is currently developing a
major capacity building project for alignment and automation of trade
documentation in our member states. The project will be launched in the 4th
quarter of 2003.

UNeDocs is a technical cooperation project. A UN technical cooperation
project is always demand driven with the purpose to implement solutions in
a specific trade scenario. UNeDocs is based on exiting trade standards and
best practice. The core standards with regard to UNeDocs are summarized on
our Web Site http://www.unece.org/etrades/unedocs/layout.htm and in the ISO
TC 154 document http://www.unece.org/etrades/unedocs/docs/154n324.pdf . We
believe that the application of the existing standards will already provide
significant benefits for our member countries. We also believe that any new
documentary standards will need to be compatible with the relevant paper
standards to gain acceptance. As UNeDocs is based on the approved standards
we will be open for new developments.

Consequently it is our policy in UNeDocs  not to engage in any standards
development activities and to focus on implementation based aspects.
UNeDocs participates in the maintenance of the core documentary standards,
either directly of through UNECE. All liaisons to the standards developing
world are  handled strictly by UNECE.

We are very encouraged to see that OASIS/UBL supports the UNeDocs
perspective, which underlines the importance of the paper-based standards
for the development of a digital economy. For the above reasons we regret
that we will not be able to actively participate in the committee. However,
we are prepared to provide input and resource files to the Forms
Presentation Subcommittee to promote the implementation of UN trade
standards. We are also prepared to promote and implement solutions of the
FPSC  in countries provided the availability of supporting software.

We wish your group success in their work and hope to hear from you.

Kind regards,

Markus

United Nations, ECE
Project manager UNeDocs
www.UNECE.org
www.UNeDocs.org

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