The United Nations, through its Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT), supports activities dedicated to improving the ability of business, trade and administrative organizations, from developed, developing and transitional economies, to exchange products and relevant services effectively. Its principal focus is on facilitating national and international transactions, through the simplification and harmonisation of processes, procedures and information flows, and so contribute to the growth of global commerce. This is achieved by:

1. Analysing and understanding the key elements of international processes, procedures and transactions and working for the elimination of constraints;

2. Developing methods to facilitate processes, procedures and transactions, including the relevant use of information technologies;

3. Promoting both the use of these methods, and associated best practices, through channels such as government, industry and service associations;

4. Coordinating its work with other international organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Customs Organization (WCO), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), notably in the context of a Memorandum of Understanding for a Global Facilitation Partnership for Transport and Trade;

5. Securing coherence in the development of Standards and Recommendations by co-operating with other interested parties, including international, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. In particular, for UN/CEFACT Standards, this coherence is accomplished by cooperating with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and selected non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the context of the ISO/IEC/ITU/UNECE Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). These relationships were established in recognition that UN/CEFACT’s work has broad application in the areas beyond global commerce and that interoperability of applications and their ability to support multi-lingual environments, are key objectives.

More about UN/CEFACT is available at its official web site www.unece.org/cefact