Sustainable Development and Circular Economy Reference Data Model

Reference Data Models (RDMs) provide a comprehensive subset of the UN/CCL (UN Core Component Library) and its associated code lists with all the information pertinent to a sector of activity such as Buy-Ship-Pay Reference Data Model (BSP RDM), Supply Chain Reference Data Model (SC RDM), Cross-Border Management Reference Data Model (CBM RDM) or Multi-Modal Transport Reference Data Model (MMT RDM). Many government agencies already use data coming from these RDMs as well as other processes which are well documented in the UN/CCL. This project aims to provide a Sustainable Development and Circular Economy Reference Data Model (SDCE RDM) as a view on the top-level BSP RDM within the UN/CEFACT semantic library.

Improving sustainability (including circularity) has become one of the major objectives of most industries and sectors, in order to increase their ability to manage their supply chains more effectively and sustainably. As a view on the top-level BSP RDM, all stages of product life cycle will be considered from the point of view of sustainability and circular economy, including processes such as farming, cultivation, mining, hunting/fishing, forestry, manufacturing, transport/logistics and retail. All developments will be aligned to the UN/CCL and the project team will work with the relevant domains with respect to ABIE developments.

In preparatory work carried out in 2017 and 2018 by UNECE, it was recognized that UN/CEFACT’s work and mandate could be instrumental in supporting the harmonization and better coordination of sustainability and circular economy related processes and help countries draw together their initiatives and approaches to enhance transparency for sustainable garment and footwear global value chains. In 2020 the proposed UN/CEFACT textile and leather business standard for traceability and transparency was developed as a potentially highly re-useable standard applicable for other industries and sectors. Therefore, a logical next step is the development of this proposed “Sustainable Development and Circular Economy Reference Data Model” for international & national trade in line with relevant SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) of Agenda 2030 with the following objectives: 

•	The scope of the project is international, cross-border and cross-industry.
•	The project will contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Agenda 2030, specifically on SDG12, which calls on responsible consumption and production patters, as well as SDG8 on inclusive growth, and SDG 17 on rules based international trading system.
•	Development of a high level BRS (Business Requirements Specifications) document in line with the high-level BRS of the Buy-Ship-Pay BRS.
•	Development of the RDM, which will take the UN/CEFACT Textile and Leather Data Model as an important contribution.
•	Development of the RDM will be based on the UN/CEFACT BSP model, harmonized with the other, related sub-RDMs, which will encourage interoperability between syntaxes for data exchange structures.
•	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/CCL.
   

Deliverable 1: A high-level RDM BRS
Deliverable 2: Core Component Business Master Document Assembly
Deliverable 3: Entries/alignment to the Core Component Library
Deliverable 4: A new RDM structure in the library

The exit criteria will be:
Deliverable 1: Public Review logs demonstrating all comments have been satisfactorily resolved; Final document ready for publication.
Deliverable 2: Needed Entries to the Core Component Library ready for publication.
Deliverable 3: Final deliverable ready for publication.
Deliverable 4: Final deliverable ready for publication.

Membership is open to UN/CEFACT experts with broad knowledge in the area of:
Sustainable supply chain management, traceability systems and the UN/CEFACT Buy-Ship-Pay Model and related activities (Supply Chain and Transport & Logistics Domains) as well as in process and data modelling techniques. In addition, Heads of Delegations may invite technical experts from their constituency to participate in the work. 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.

The geographical focus of the project is global.

The following contributions are submitted as part of this proposal. It is understood that these contributions are only for consideration by the Project Team and that other participants may submit additional contributions in order to ensure that as much information as possible is obtained from those with expertise and a material interest in the project. It is also understood that the Project Team may choose to adopt one or more of these contributions “as is”.· 

•	UN/CEFACT Core Components Library (UN/CCL)
•	UN/CEFACT Buy-Ship-Pay Model
•	UN/CEFACT BRS Process & Data Model (Transparency & Traceability for Garment & Footwear)
•	UN/CEFACT BRS TT Process and CCBDA Data Model
•	UNECE Recommendations and Code Lists 
•	UNECE Framework to Design Traceability Systems for Cross-border Trade
•	UNECE paper “Transparency in garment value chains in relation to the environmental, social, and human health impacts of parts, components and production processes”
•	UN/CEFACT Conference reports on “Ethical and informed choices for sustainable clothing- Tracking and tracing garment supply chains” (30th and 31st UN/CEFACT Forum)
•	UN/CEFACT Technical deliverables in the agriculture domain, such as for traceability of animals and products, e-crops, e-labs, e-cert, Fisheries Language for Universal eXchange (FLUX)

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.