Since 2013 a number of important developments have taken place affecting international trade. These developments, which could provide significant trade facilitation opportunities for UN/CEFACT, include:
• World Trade Organisation (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement;
• UNECE-UN/CEFACT Trade Facilitation Implementation Guide (TFIG) which has been published and is being widely disseminated worldwide.
During the 25th UN/CEFACT Forum in Geneva in April 2015, a recommendation was developed by the experts on the use of a single core component technical specification for future UN/CEFACT eBusiness developments. This recommendation has been adopted by the Bureau.
UN/CEFACT will now be able to provide stakeholders with a business process driven approach and a coherent set of specifications and tools to develop their requirements.
The proposed project is, therefore, to develop an international Supply Chain Reference Data Model, with the following objectives:
• Development of a reference data model which will be based on the Reference ABIE structures of the Core Component Library and designed to be easily maintainable by UN/CEFACT
• Provide, through this reference data model, a standardized and harmonized semantic framework fully compliant with UN/CEFACT Core Components which will be easy to use and which will encourage interoperability between syntaxes for data exchange structures
• Provide links between UN Layout Key documents, UN/EDIFACT message implementation structures and the Core Component Library for reuse in syntax (including XML) implementations
• Produce guidelines for using the reference data model to define subset document structures
e-Business communication in the Supply Chain sector is extensive and often conducted through UN/EDIFACT messaging systems, which were developed and are maintained by UN/CEFACT. For the purposes of also supporting XML and other data exchange syntaxes, UN/CEFACT has in the last decade developed the Core Components Library, a neutral and syntax independent business data library using modern data modelling techniques based on CCTS v2.01.
UN/CEFACT has published a series of document-centric XML schemas; this project will develop a reference data model which will enable business process-driven CCBDA- conformant schemas to be developed, published and maintained by UN/CEFACT.
The reference data model will be based on the BRS documents (Business Requirements Specifications) for supply chain management developed according to the UN/CEFACT Modeling Methodology (UMM). This project will be the culmination of many years of previous work and will not be starting from scratch. The project will review and update existing work together with the named contributions in order to deliver a reference model which not only provides a basis for future domain work but also very importantly provides a comprehensive set of links to legacy, specifically UN/EDIFACT.
The business process-driven approach to be taken follows the principles enshrined in the UN Layout Key (Recommendation 1), the UNTDED, UN/EDIFACT and the UN/CEFACT CCL.
The scope of the project is international, cross-border, domestic and cross-industry. | 
