Conferences at the 31st UN/CEFACT Forum23 – 27 April 2018

Palais des Nations, Geneva (Switzerland)

For more information and to register, please visit http://www.unece.org/31stuncefactforum.html

Single Window: From Border-Crossing Supporting Documents to legally significant data exchange Monday, 23 April, 14.00 - 17.30, Salle XXIII

Single Window is one of the flagship topics developed by UN/CEFACT. With four published recommendations on the topic and two further recommendations under development as well as several guidance documents prepared by the UNECE secretariat, we have striven to ensure clear and easy to follow guidance on the topic. Implementing a Single Window is not necessarily an easy task and there are some document exchanges which remain out of scope of implementations. This conference shall explore these and propose guidance to be integrated into a revision of Recommendation 33.

Traceability for Sustainable Value Chains: Textile and Leather SectorTuesday, 24 April, 9.30 - 12.30 and 14.00 - 17.30, Salle XXIII

Global and complex value chains within the textile industry, with production facilities scattered all over the world, make it very hard to gain accurate information about how and where such impacts occur. Though progress has been made, much is needed on safety risks, compliance issues to safeguard the working conditions of more than 60 million workers in the industry, as well as the environmental impact of this industry which is responsible for 1.7 bln tons of CO2 emissions per year and 90 mln tons of waste per year. This conference shall brainstorm on how deep in the supply chain visibility is necessary for responsible sourcing along with current trends and possible approaches for supply chain traceability.

Internet of Things Tuesday, 24 April, 9.00 - 12.30 and 14.00 - 17.30, Salle XXII

Over the past years, Internet of Things (IoT) technology has been increasingly in the news with many articles and usage. IoT appears to be an important new development which will allow integration of Internet based technologies into every sphere of life including the area of Trade Facilitation Objective This Conference seeks to establish some clarity and a collective understanding of the potential of IoT technology for supporting trade and trade facilitation as well as the other business and government activities. A range of experts will elaborate on various aspects of IoT technology and an open debate with the floor is expected.

Blockchain Conference / WorkshopThursday, 26 April, 9.30 - 12.30 and 14.00 - 18.30, Salle XXII

UN/CEFACT has been developing two White Papers on blockchain technologies, one on potential use cases and the other on how this technology may impact UN/CEFACT deliverables. The latter has been prepared and shall go through a period of internal and public review. It shall also be one of the topics during this conference / workshop. Each lead-contributor to the use-case White Paper shall present their work during this session, take in any comments and prepare the final draft for publication before the next Forum in October 2018. This will be a good opportunity to provide input and to see how blockchain may affect future development in the ITC world.