1. What Does it Mean for UN/CEFACT ?
UNECE REFORM
What Does it Mean for UN/CEFACT ?
UNITED NATIONS CENTRE FOR TRADE FACILITATION AND ELECTRONIC BUSINESS
Under the auspices of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

2. UNECE REFORM PROCESS Started February 2005
External review published July 2005
Negotiated agreement on implementation approved 2 December 2005

3. UNECE REFORM Changes Impacting UN/CEFACT
Restructured UN/CEFACT’s parent body: The Committee on Trade
Changed the UNECE Governance Structure
Made 2 requests with specificly related to on UN/CEFACT’s programme of work

4. The UNECE Committee on Trade
Its Objective
“To facilitate trade and trade-related economic cooperation among countries of the ECE region and with the rest of the world”
Slide 4. Committee on Trade, Its objective
The objective was approved by the UNECE Group of Experts for the Programme of Work for inclusion in the Strategic Framework for the Trade subprogramme.

5. Visions supporting the objective
COMMITTEE ON TRADE
Open, rule-based, predictable and non-
discriminatory trading system supported by
United Nations
Centre for Trade
Facilitation
and Electronic
Business
UN/CEFACT
Working Party on
Regulatory
Cooperation and
Standardization
Policies
WP.6
Working Party
on Agricultural
Quality
Standards
WP.7
Slide 5. Review of visions, mission statements and terms of reference.
The UNECE Reform Plan requires the CT to submit its revised mandate and terms of reference to the Executive Committee for its approval. The Bureau of the CT would like to take this opportunity to review together the visions, mission statements and terms of reference of the Committee and its subsidiary bodies, to make them more uniform and clarify the overall themes linking the different activities. The draft vision statements are presented on this slide.
The secretariat has prepared for discussion by the Bureau an analytical paper to explore the issues related to implementing the ECE reform in the Trade subprogramme. The Bureau will discuss the paper at its forthcoming meeting and will propose options for action to the plenary session of the Committee in June 2006.
Simple, transparent, effective processes for global commerce
Clear commercial quality standards to support trade in agricultural produce
Predictable, transparent and harmonized regulatory environment for commerce and business

6. The Committee on Trade (CT)
Business community
The Committee on Trade (CT)
supports UNECE reform
Governments and public agencies
CT: Multilateral platform to discuss & decide on tools for simpler trading
standards,
procedures,
recommendations
Slide 3. The Committee on Trade (CT) supports UNECE reform
The activities of the CT support the mission of the UNECE as formulated in the reform document.
The CT:
- Provides a multilateral platform to discuss and decide what instruments are needed to make trading simpler, more transparent and more effective;
- Works with public and private partners to develop these instruments (standards, procedures, recommendations);
- Facilitates application of best practices and agreed instruments, particularly in transition economies;
- Promotes its instruments globally, in partnership with other organizations.
application of best practices in transition economies
global promotion in partnership with other organizations

7. The Committee on Trade supports UN global decisions on trade
International standards
Simple, transparent, effective processes
Harmonized product regulations
Slide 2. The Committee on Trade (CT) supports the UN global decisions on trade
The newly formed Committee is called the Committee on Trade. Its activities are in line with the global political decisions made at the United Nations.
It works to make trading simpler and smoother in an ever globalizing world through:
- Development and use of international standards;
- Simple, transparent and effective processes;
- Harmonized regulations for products.
These activities support the UN Millennium Development Goal no.8 for an “Open trading system that is rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory” .
Open, rule-based,
predictable
and non-discriminatory
trading system

8. UNECE REFORM Governance: Greater Political Oversight
The UNECE Executive Committee will:
Review, evaluate, approve programmes of work (PoW)
Approve setup, renewal, ToR and work plans of sub-groups (i.e. CEFACT Groups)
Examine reports on PoW implementation
Ensure coherence between subprogrammes
Deal with the budget

9. UNECE REFORM Decisions directly impacting UN/CEFACT
“Activities in the field of Trade Facilitation shall continue and focus on supporting the development of standards carried out by UN/CEFACT” (para. 54)
“The Committee on Inland Transport shall strengthen activities in the fields of border crossing and trade facilitation in cooperation with the Committee on Trade and submit proposals thereon to the Executive Committee” (para. 34)

10. UNECE REFORM OPPORTUNITIES
To raise the profile of UN/CEFACT’s activities in the UNECE & in Capitols
To reinforce UN/CEFACT’s work through improved cooperation with the Committee and its other subsidiary bodies