The World Economic Forum (WEF) shall produce a series of short issue briefs in order to assist WTO Members to implement the Trade Facilitation Agreement as well as contribute to the TFA+ discussions. The WEF has approached the UNECE Secretariat to produce the issue on “Paperless Trade.” The issue should be no longer than 15 pages and be comprised of three sections: a history of the subject (3-4 pages), current context (2-3 pages) and benchmarking of best practices (7-8 pages).

After proposal from the UN/CEFACT Chair, it was agreed that such a paper could be run as a joint UN/CEFACT – World Economic Forum project. This provides an opportunity for the two organizations to work together and especially an opportunity for UN/CEFACT to showcase its work in a WEF publication. The project will be run by the joint rules and membership of the two organizations.

This project aims to create a short issue brief outlining the history, the current context and some best practices of paperless trade.

The project deliverables are as follows:
     a)	A White Paper on Paperless Trade.

The exit criteria that will indicate the deliverable has been completed, are specified as below.
     a)	White Paper ready for publication.

Membership is open to experts with broad knowledge in the area of trade facilitation and paperless trade and their implementation. In addition, Heads of Delegations may invite technical experts from their constituency to participate in the work. 

Membership shall also be open to experts from the World Economic Forum and their constituencies. 

Experts are expected to contribute to the work based solely on their expertise and to comply with the UN/CEFACT Code of Conduct and Ethics and the policy on Intellectual Property Rights.

•	Not required as this is a White Paper project

The geographical focus of the project is global.

Initial contributions include
     •	All UN/CEFACT deliverables related to paperless trade
     •	Deliverables of other organizations related to paperless trade insofar as they participate in the development of this issue brief within the milestones listed below
     •	World Economic Forum previous issue briefs (for the format and style)

Participants in the project shall provide resources for their own participation. The existence and functioning of the project shall not require any additional resources from the UNECE secretariat. The project will be prepared using conference call facilities.

Project Leader: 	Lance THOMPSON (lance.thompson@conex.net)
Lead Editor: 		Kimberley Botwright (Kimberley.Botwright@weforum.org)