In September, UN/CEFACT held a joint meeting, including six of their Trade Business Groups, to consider the approach and work required to establishing common standards and interoperability for Single Windows. The involvement of groups addressing all aspects of international trade transactions and electronic standards is representative of the way in which the benefits to be gained from Single Window systems would cut across all aspects of the trading environment.
The meeting discussed the current efforts to harmonise data elements and in particular the recent work by the World Customs Organisation in the area of Customs-specific elements and the work of the Pan-Asia Alliance to address the incompatibilities between individual country requirements. It is hoped that a combination of this work and current UN-led initiatives might create a strong platform for Single Window standards work in the future. The use of internationally agreed standards is vital if countries’ individual Single Windows are to become part of a wider, electronically enabled trading community. However, it is an ambitious project that will take a lot of time and close cooperation between a wide range of agencies.
Following on from this meeting, UNECE is holding a workshop in Geneva next March in order to investigate fully the possibilities for developing internationally agreed Single Window standards. It is hoped that this meeting will lay the groundwork for the urgent work that is required in this area.
Return to SITPRO News: Issue 54, Autumn 2005
